PUTRAJAYA (Nov 3): The record of appeal for the graft case of ex-chairman of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad is ready and the Court of Appeal on Tuesday (Nov 2) directed the prosecution and defence to file the petition of appeal.
This follows case management of both the prosecution and defence's appeal on Tuesday before the appellate court's senior assistant registrar Nadia Mohd Kamal.
Isa's counsel Datuk Sallehuddin Saidin and Deputy Public Prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz when contacted by theedgemarkets.com confirmed that no hearing dates had been fixed by the court, and parties were directed to check the record of appeal and look into filing the petition of appeal.
According to them, the next case management date has been fixed for Dec 8.
Afzainizam also noted that the court may fix a hearing date for both appeals by then.
A petition of appeal contains the grounds of appeal by the parties to be argued before the bench. The record of appeal basically contains the transcripts of the entire court trial.
The High Court last year acquitted Isa of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving the acquisition of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites in Kuching, Sarawak without his defence being called.
However, he was found guilty on nine counts of graft for a total of RM3.09 million, which he received in nine tranches from a former director of Gegasan Abadi Properties Sdn Bhd between July 21, 2014 and Dec 11, 2015.
The company owned the Merdeka Palace Hotel prior to the acquisition by FELDA for RM160 million. Following the conviction, Isa was sentenced by Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali on Feb 3 this year to six years in jail and fined RM15.45 million.
Meanwhile, the prosecution filed its appeal against his acquittal of the CBT charges, while his lawyers also filed a notice of appeal following his conviction and sentence earlier this year.
A total of 22 prosecution witnesses testified in the trial, while six witnesses, including Isa, who will turn 72 later this month, testified in his defence.