KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — The Court of Appeal today postponed to Aug 26 to give its verdict on former Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim's appeal to strike out his corruption and money laundering charges.

This was after Abdul Azeez's lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad requested the court to postpone its decision scheduled today following a reply he received from the Malaysian Anti Corruption Agency (MACC) on (June 27) relating to the Baling member of Parliament's representation letter to the Attorney General Chambers (AGC).

He said according to the MACC, there have been new leads that they were looking into and that MACC was set to brief the AGC on the new development.

Amer Hamzah said he had submitted a letter requesting the court to give some time to the MACC and AGC to decide on his client's representation.

“We strongly believe that the outcome of the representation would end the entire episode. If the AGC agrees on our representation based on the issues we raised, there is no necessity for this court to deliver the decision,” he said.

Amer Hamzah said he had applied to the court to postpone the earlier decision on March 21 this year pending AGC's reply to their representation, adding that the court then re-fixed the decision date to today.

He said this would be the third postponement.

As there was no objection from the prosecution, Justice Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, who led a three-member panel, then allowed the postponement and said it would be a final postponement.

“We got a lot of other cases, the court has granted postponement several times and it was not good in the eyes of the public,” said Justice Kamaludin.

Abdul Azeez, 55, is appealing against the High Court's decision on March 12 last year which dismissed his application to strike out three corruption charges involving RM5.2 million in connection with road projects in Perak and Kedah, and 10 money-laundering charges involving RM13.9 million which he allegedly received from Menuju Asas Sdn Bhd.

For the three corruption charges, he was alleged to have committed the offences at CIMB Bank, Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 8, 2010, and at Affin Bank, Puchong City Centre, Selangor, on June 13, 2017, and April 10, 2018.

On the money laundering charges, Abdul Azeez was charged with committing the offences in Klang Valley between March 8, 2010, and Aug 30, 2018. — Bernama