Former Mimos general manager jailed 56 years, fined RM5mil for bribery

A former Mimos financial general manager was sentenced to a total of 56 years' jail and fined RM5.02mil by a Sessions Court here to eight counts of accepting and asking bribes from a businessman amounting to more than RM1mil.

Judge Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain jailed Khairuddin Khalid, 53, to seven years for each of the charges.

However, he instructed the sentences to run concurrently beginning Thursday, meaning Khairuddin needed to serve only seven years' jail.

He also sentenced Khairuddin to five years and three months' imprisonment if he failed to pay the fine.

Judge Ahmad Zamzani handed down the decision after the prosecution had succeeded in establishing the case beyond reasonable doubt against Khairuddin.

"The defence given was a bare denial, baseless, unreasonable and was an afterthought.

"Thus, I find you guilty and convicted you of all charges after defence called," he said when delivering his verdict.

Earlier, in mitigation, Khairuddin's counsel Azi Azlin Zulkifli said he was married with two school-going children and his wife was not working.

Azi said her client played an important role to secure Government projects, among others was the KLIA2 project.

She also applied for a stay and a bail be given under Section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission deputy public prosecutor Mohd Nur Lokman Samingan objected, saying that Khairuddin had abused the trust given to him.

He said he hoped that the court would mete out a maximum jail sentence against Khairuddin as a deterrent to others.

Judge Ahmad Zamzani later granted an application for a stay on the jail sentence.

However, he ordered Khairuddin to pay the fine.

Khairuddin was charged with four counts of accepting a total of RM502,002.37 via four cheques from 66-year-old businessman Muhamad Khalid Ismail.

He was also charged with four counts of asking the bribes involving similar amount.

He allegedly committed the offences in the office of investment company Corporate Eight Asset Management Sdn Bhd (CEAM) at Menara Weld, Jalan Raja Chulan, here, between May 23, 2001, and Feb 8, 2002.

The money was alleged to be an inducement for Khairuddin to ensure that the national ICT research and development centre to invest money in CEAM.

Source: TheStarOnline