Sessions Court 'sits' in hospital over rice-supply case

Sessions Court Judge Rozina Ayob recorded a not-guilty plea from the owner of a company that imports rice and spices after he was charged at the hospital with three counts of submitting false claims in relation to a project to supply rice to Kedah Agro Holdings Bhd amounting to RM22.7 million six years ago.

The accused, C. Kuganeswaran, 37, who owns Prolink Marketing Sdn Bhd, is currently undergoing treatment there.

Kuganeswaran was charged with submitting three sets of false documents to an agent of SME Development Bank Malaysia Berhad over a financing facility for a project to supply rice products to Kedah Agro Holdings Bhd amounting to RM22,760,000, which was not carried out.

The offence was allegedly committed at the SME Development Bank Malaysia Berhad Office here on Jan 27 and March 1 and 14, 2017.

He was charged under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.

The offence is punishable by a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of five times the value of the offence committed, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

The case was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd 'Afif Ali while Kuganeswaran was represented by lawyer Datuk Abu Bakar Isa Ramat.

Rozina fixed bail at RM60,000 with one surety for all of the charges with the additional condition that the accused report to the nearest MACC office once a month.

Case mention was set for Nov 23.