Malaysia's land minister pleaded innocent to corruption charges yesterday after being arrested for illegal share trading.
Land and Cooperative Development Minister Kasitah Gaddam's case is the second high-profile anti-corruption arrest this week in a crackdown ordered by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Kasitah was formally charged with two counts of corruption in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court involving the sale of millions of ringgit worth of shares in a plantation company held by the Sabah Land Development Board, which he chairs.
Kasitah pleaded innocent to both charges. He was released on bail of 1 million ringgit (US$263,000) and ordered to surrender his passport.
Magistrate Rosenani Abdul Rahman agreed to send the case to the high court for its next hearing. No date was set.
On the first count, prosecution documents presented to the court allege Kasitah "took part in corrupt acts" by using his position as chairman of the state land body to approve the sale of 16.8 million shares it held in SAPI Plantations to Briskmark Enterprises. Kasitah was promised 3.6 million of the SAPI Plantations shares to arrange the sale, prosecutors allege.
The second count accuses Kasitah of deceiving the rest of the board into approving the sale.
Zawawi Nordin, deputy director general of the Anti-Corruption Agency that arrested Kasitah, said the illegal transactions were worth up to 40 million ringgit (US$10.5 million), the Bernama national news agency reported.
Kasitah's lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said "we've got a very good chance of defending this case."
The Sabah Land Development Board is in charge of government land development projects in Sabah state on Borneo island.
It is linked to the national farming cooperative body Felda, which is the largest owner of plantation land in Malaysia, producing mostly palm oil.
Felda is administered by Kasitah's ministry. Kasitah is from Sabah.
Kasitah's arrest came two days after another high-profile anti-corruption case, though they are not believed to be linked.
On Tuesday, Eric Chia Eng Hock, the former tycoon at the center of Malaysia's biggest financial scandal was charged with criminal breach of trust in connection 76.4 million ringgit (US$20 million) missing from government-controlled Perwaja Steel.
The big-hitting steel company almost collapsed in 1996 under debts and losses of more than 10 billion ringgit (US$2.7 billion).
Since succeeding former prime minister Mahathir Mohamed, Abdullah has made fighting corruption and improving corporate governance -- issues that have tarnished Malaysia's reputation for years -- a central policy plank as he prepares to call important elections.
Abdullah this week warned members of his government that he was reviewing their performance, and said he wanted to weed out "discredited personalities."
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