KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Two former senior officers of Mara Corporation Sdn Bhd (Mara Corp) were charged in the Sessions Court here today each with five charges of using their office for gratification by approving payments of their acting allowance without the approval of the Board of Directors.
Former acting group chief executive officer (CEO) Noor Irwan Marmi, 44, and former group corporate finance director Rizal Abdul Gani, 44, pleaded not guilty to all the charges which were read out separately to them before judge Suzana Hussin.
According to the five charges, Noor Irwan, the then-CEO of the company, was charged with using his position to obtain gratification by approving the Mara Corporation Internal Memo dated between September 15, 2021, and January 20 this year.
The document concerned a matter in which he had an interest, which was the payment of his acting allowance, amounting to RM46,281.75, without the approval of the Mara Corporation Board of Directors.
As for Rizal Abdul Gani, the-then group corporate finance director, he was also alleged to have used his position to obtain gratification by approving Mara Corporation’s Internal Memo, dated between September 15, 2021, and January 20 last year, involving acting allowance payment amounting to RM40,875 for himself without the approval of the Board of Directors.
They were charged with committing the offence at level 20, Menara MARA, at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman here between September 17, 2021, and January 21 this year.
The charges were framed under Section 23 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 which provides imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher if found guilty.
Noor Irwan, represented by lawyer Mohd Ozier Farhan Mohd Khanafeh, was allowed bail of RM45,000, while Rizal, who was unrepresented, was allowed bail of RM40,000.
They were also ordered to surrender their passports and report themselves at the nearest MACC office once a month.
The court set August 23 for mention of both cases.
The prosecution in both cases was conducted by MACC deputy public prosecutors A. Kala Vani and Nurul Atiqah Mohamad Alias.
— Bernama
