Business tycoon Abu Sahid allowed to travel to London by court

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court here has allowed business tycoon Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed temporary access to his passport for him to travel to London next month.

Judge Suzana Hussin made the order for Abu Sahid’s passport to be returned to him on Friday (Dec 19) and surrendered back to the court by Jan 30.

Abu Sahid, 74, is travelling to the United Kingdom from Jan 12 to 28 to send his daughter to a university in London.

Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Fadhly Mohd Zamry applied for the court to impose an additional condition on Abu Sahid, barring him from accessing his bank accounts in the United Kingdom throughout the trip.

He sought the court’s discretion to impose the additional condition under sections 388 and 389 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

Abu Sahid’s lawyer Jasbeer Singh Kaura however, objected on the grounds that the prosecution has no real information on the said bank accounts.

“Where is this bank account? Which bank account? How much money is in it?” he said here on Friday.

The lawyer said such a condition was unfair to his client, whose bank accounts in Malaysia have been frozen.

“If the additional condition is imposed, where would they have the funds to pay for school and expenses?” he said, adding that the defence would leave it to the court’s discretion.

Judge Suzana then dismissed the application by the prosecution.

Abu Sahid, who is a Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd director, was charged with five counts of criminal breach of trust involving RM458.5mil at two banks in Taman Tunku and Taman Serdang Perdana between May 3, 2016 and Oct 21, 2019.

The charges under Section 409 of the Penal Code carry a maximum imprisonment of 20 years, whipping and fine, if convicted.

For the first 10 money laundering charges, he is accused of transferring RM116,449,536.12 from his bank account to the accounts of five individuals and four construction companies between May 4, 2016 and Oct 29, 2019.

For the 11th to the 13th money laundering charges, he allegedly disposed of proceeds from illegal activities amounting to RM22,802,612.86 by cashing multiple cheques between May 4, 2016 and Sept 19, 2018.

The charges under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFPUAA) 2001, carry prison time of up to 15 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of proceeds from illegal activities or RM5mil, whichever is higher, if found guilty.