.jpg "Former Federal Territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor arrives at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex January 17, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Yusof Mat Isa")
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Former minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s trial for allegedly taking RM2 million in bribes did not go on as scheduled today, as the Umno treasurer is on a six-day medical leave after suffering a fall in the courtroom last week.
Tengku Adnan’s defence lawyer Datuk Tan Hock Chuan told High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan that his client was unable to be present in court today because of the “nasty fall” and requested that trial be rescheduled.
“Client has medical leave for six days… He has damage to his right knee, also went through a CT scan. So in the circumstances, my Lord, with apologies we pray for this hearing date to be vacated,” Tan told the court.
Trial was initially scheduled to go on today and tomorrow, before resuming on March 25 to March 27.
Deputy public prosecutor Julia Ibrahim did not object.
Tengku Adnan was scheduled to resume testifying as the first defence witness in his own defence.
The judge then fixed additional trial dates tentatively from February 18 to February 20, and from March 4 to March 5, while also retaining the trial dates of March 25 to March 27.
Tan later told reporters that Tengku Adnan’s six-day medical leave is from January 17 to January 24.
The lawyer said Tengku Adnan has “tissue injury to his right knee as a result of the nasty fall in court”.
Tengku Adnan was seen falling from the witness dock after a misstep down the steps from the raised platform last Friday after testifying in his own defence in this trial.
In his testimony last Friday, Tengku Adnan, who was formerly Umno secretary-general, said that the RM2 million cheque from businessman Tan Sri Chai Kin Kong was a “political donation” for Umno’s expenses in the two by-elections in 2016 in Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar.
Tengku Adnan had also said that he did not need the RM2 million for himself as he is “very comfortable financially”, explaining that he already owned “very substantial assets” and was already a successful businessman involved in various businesses — such as real estate, logging, manufacturing, trading, hotel, agricultural — before joining the Cabinet.
Tengku Adnan was charged with receiving from Chai a Hong Leong Islamic Bank cheque issued by developer Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd for RM2 million, and with the cheque having been deposited into the CIMB Bank account of Tadmansori Holding Sdn Bhd in which he had an interest while he served as the federal territories minister.
Tengku Adnan allegedly committed the offence at CIMB’s Pusat Bandar Damansara Branch on June 14, 2016.
The penalty for the offence under Section 165 of the Penal Code is a maximum two-year jail term or a fine or both.
The prosecution had produced 23 witnesses during the prosecution’s stage of the trial from July 2 until August 2, 2019, including Chai himself and former Kuala Lumpur mayors Tan Sri Ahmad Phesal Talib and Tan Sri Mohd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz.
On October 14, 2019, the High Court had ordered Tengku Adnan to enter defence, while Tan had then said that the defence expects to call about five to six defence witnesses for the trial.
