Tengku Adnan corruption trial to proceed today after judge dismisses recusal bid
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 ― Umno veteran Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s RM1 million bribery trial is set to finally start at the High Court here today.
High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali threw out an application to recuse himself filed by the defence yesterday, ruling that there was no credible evidence to show the former Federal Territories minister would not receive a fair trial.
“The circumstances of this case and the basis of the application, the assertion of the applicant that I may be influenced by the facts of the case or by the guilty plea of Datuk Tan Eng Boon or of the sentence against him to the detriment of the applicant is not sustainable,” the judge said.
He also ordered trial to begin immediately after dismissing a application by lead defence counsel Datuk Tan Hock Chuan who wanted a stay pending an appeal.
Eng Boon, a local businessman who was accused of corruption alongside Tengku Adnan, had accepted a plea bargain and pled guilty to an alternative charge of abetment in soliciting a bribe and was fined RM1.5 million in place of one year in prison. He also agreed to turn prosecution witness against Tengku Adnan.
MORE TO COME
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