Two former senior officers of MARA Corp charged with gratification

KUALA LUMPUR: 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, ,44, as the then CEO of the company, was charged with using his position to obtain gratification by approving the MARA Corporation Internal Memo dated between Sept 15, 2021 and Jan 20 this year.

The document concerned a matter in which he had interest in, 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, 44, then the 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 Sept 15, 2021 and Jan 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 Sept 17, 2021 and Jan 21 this year.

The charges were framed under Section 23 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 which provides an imprisonment for up to 20 years and 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.

Both of them were also ordered to surrender their passports and to report themselves at the nearest MACC office once a month.

The court set Aug 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