Kuala Lumpur: The prosecution has accepted a representation by former Aker Engineering Malaysia Group senior vice-president Ahmad Hatta Kamaruzzaman for his case to be classified as no further action with the condition that his acquittal and discharge by the High Court be replaced with a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA). Ahmad Hatta, 54, was charged in the Sessions Court on February 18, 2022, with misleading the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) by submitting a false statement in 2017.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, at the Court of Appeal, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Law Chin How informed the court that the prosecution accepted Ahmad Hatta’s representation. He stated that the prosecution was requesting the High Court’s decision, made on December 23, 2022, to acquit and discharge Ahmad Hatta, to be substituted with a DNAA. The High Court had erred in granting a discharge and acquittal to Ahmad Hatta as the trial of his case had not yet commenced. As a result, the prosecution will classify the case as ‘no further action’.
Ahmad Hatta’s lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, confirmed the matter, acknowledging that the order should be a DNAA. Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah, presiding over the Court of Appeal’s three-man bench, then substituted the High Court’s order with a DNAA. The panel also included Justices Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.
Ahmad Hatta was charged at the Sessions Court with allegedly misleading SSM with a false statement regarding material details in the Annual Return of Aker Engineering Malaysia Sdn Bhd, dated May 19, 2017. It is a document required to be submitted to the SSM under Section 68 of the Companies Act 2016. He was charged with committing the offence in June 2017 at Menara SSM@Sentral, No 7 Jalan Stesen Sentral 5 in Kuala Lumpur.
The charge, under Section 591 (2) (a) of the Companies Act 2016, provides imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine not exceeding RM3 million if found guilty. Ahmad Hatta subsequently filed an application at the High Court in April 2022 to strike out the charge, which was granted by the court. He was initially charged with deceiving a leading oil and gas company into listing the firm as a qualified company with Bumiputera status. In November 2021, he was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the Sessions Court, which allowed a preliminary objection, ruling the charge as defective.