PKMS' ex-president faces 10 more charges

UPDATED

Former Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS) president Ali Asjadi on Friday faced 10 more charges, mostly for storing illegal cigarettes at the PKMS headquarters.

This brings the total charges against him to 12.

The new charges include storing 337 kg of Marlboro and Gudang Garam Surya duty-unpaid cigarettes at various parts of the party headquarters on Saturday 10 September, reported The Straits Times.

Ali, 54, was first brought to court last Saturday for dealing in 242kg of cigarettes with unpaid duty of $85,208 and evading GST of $7,438.

Indonesian Atlis Suryanto, 40, who allegedly committed the offences with Ali, has also been charged.

A customs prosecutor applied for both men to be remanded for another week. He said Ali might face more changes, the paper reported.

Ali was removed from his party on Tuesday after he was charged for possession of contraband cigarettes.

The party said in a statement that Ali had misused his authority as well as the party headquarters by placing the illegal items there.

The party also stated that no other PKMS members were involved in or aware of what he had done, and that it does not condone his actions.

Ali was arrested last Saturday after it was discovered that he had stored a significant amount of contraband cigarettes at the party’s headquarters.

The party’s supreme executive council held an emergency meeting the next day, where it decided that Ali would be stripped of his post, membership and duties.

Yahoo! Singapore understands that Ali acted with three accomplices, who are said to be Indonesian citizens.

PKMS’s deputy president Abu Mohamed, 60, has since taken over Ali’s post as acting president in the interim.