Another teeny fish has been caught in the anticorruption net of the ACA. This time it is about 'money politics' in UMNO. Bernama reports that the Tapah Umno division chairman Datuk Azman Mahalan pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to two counts of bribery involving RM7,000.
Datuk Azman is alleged to have given the bribes of RM2000 and RM5000 to businessman Mohamed Kamal Rabaai in 2001 in relation to the election of the Tapah Umno division chairman's post then. The bribes were allegedly given so that one, Pazli Abdullah Sani, who was a bankrupt then, could not challenge Datuk Azman in the UMNO election.
Azman, a former teacher, has been the Tapah Umno division chairman since 1984 and was Ayer Kuning state assemblyman from 1986 until his last-minute drop from the 11th general election. Probably by then the fact that is number was up must have been known.
Despite being a public interest case and the fact that the accused would like his name cleared as soon as possible; the date for his trial has been fixed Dec 13th to 17th, ie some 8 months away. The reason given by the senior deputy public prosecutor, Tun Abdul Majid was that he had to be present for the corruption trials of former Perwaja managing director Tan Sri Eric Chia and former land and cooperative development minister Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam and the hearing of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's appeal, which had all been fixed earlier. The question that goes abegging is why such a big gun senior deputy prosecutor is needed to handle this case which involves a teeny fish? Is it because it is a sandiwara? Is it because certain situations need special prosecuting skills? Or is it simply because this is the first case involving money politics brought to court in Perak?
The Funnies, The Spins, The Humourous and The Humourless......
"I do not aim at fusion. Each religion has its own contribution to make to human evolution.
I regard the great faiths of the WORLD as so many branches of a tree, each distinct from the other though having the same source.----Mahatma Ghandhi.
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