KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — A tow truck driver was sentenced to death at a High Court today for the murder of Arab-Malaysian Development Bank founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi last year.

According to The Star Online, High Court judge Justice Mohd Azman Husin also sentenced Koong Swee Kwan to 18 years in jail for the attempted murder of Najadi’s wife Cheong Mei Kuen.

“I find that the ‎defence was a mere denial and that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

“I find you guilty and ‎convict you of the two charges,” the judge was quoted saying in his verdict.

The 45-year-old Koong was charged last year with murdering the Ambank founder under Section 302 of the Penal Code and with the attempted murder of Cheong, 49, under Section 307 of the same law.

He was accused of committing the offences at the Kuan Yin temple on Jalan Ceylon between 1.30pm and 2.00pm on July 29, 2013.

According to previous news reports, Koong, nicknamed “Sei Ngan Chai”, a popular moniker in Cantonese for those wearing spectacles as it means “Four-Eyed Man”, also has a record of possession of stolen goods and extortion.

At the time, Kuala Lumpur CID chief Datuk Ku Chin Wah reportedly said that Najadi was believed to have been murdered over a land deal worth more than RM100 million in Lorong Ceylon in the city centre.

Najadi was assassinated on July 29, while his wife was seriously injured in the shooting, when they emerged from the Kuan Yin Temple in Lorong Ceylon.

Najadi, 75, who had Iranian citizenship and permanent Malaysian residency, was the chairman and chief executive of multi-billion dollar corporation AIAK Group.

He had established the Arab-Malaysian Development Bank in 1975, now known as AmBank.