The High Court today acquitted former minister Kasitah Gaddam from corrupt practices and cheating charges arising from events in 1996.

Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Suraya Othman ruled that Kasitah can been discharged without entering his defence after the prosecution had failed to prove a case against Kasitah.

"On maximum evaluation of the evidence forwarded during the prosecution case, essential ingredients of both offences were not made out on the facts before the court.

"In the circumstances, the accused stands acquitted and discharged of both the charges against him," Suraya said in her 73-page judgment.

The former rural development and cooperatives minister appeared calm when the verdict was read out.

kasitah gaddam court case 100107He later told reporters that he was relieved and happy with the decision.

He said that he wanted to perform the haj with his family next but before that he planned to visit his mother in Ranau, Sabah.

"I'm very thankful to God and I did not expect to be freed today after going through this ordeal since 2004," he said

Kasitah was among a handful of top people arrested and charged with corruption following then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's promise to clean up graft.

He was charged on Feb 12, 2004, just four months after Abdullah took over as the prime minister.

A week later Kasitah resigned from his cabinet post to focus on clearing his name.

The former chairperson of the Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) was charged with using his position in the board for his financial gain by taking part in a decision to approve the sale of 16.8 million Sapi Plantations shares held by the board to Briskmark Enterprise in 1996.

Kasitah, 61, was also alleged to have deceived SLDB by omitting to disclose an offer by PPB Oil Palm Sdn Bhd to allocate five shares of the company for each share of Sapi Plantations in the proposed public listing.

Among the 31 witnesses called by the prosecution were former Sabah Resource Development and Enterprise Minister Joseph Kurup and former Commerce International Merchant Bankers Bhd chief operating officer Munir Majid.

'Evidence showed otherwise'

In her decision to acquit Kasitah, Justice Suraya said she disagreed with the prosecution's contention that Kasitah had engineered the sale of Sapi shares to Briskmark to repay his bank loan of RM11.5 million with DCB Bank.

Bernama reported Suraya as saying that the testimony of Briskmark director Wasli Mohd Said and accountant Vincent Chia revealed that RM11.5 million came from sale proceeds of Intra Oil shares belonging to Kasitah.

She added the evidence of DCB bank officers had conclusively proven that there was a genuine sale of IOS shares where Chia had used his secret profit of more than RM30 million in PPB Oil Palms share transaction to purchase the IOS shares.

She said the prosecution had mainly relied on Wasli and Chia's evidence which were tainted with self-interest because Chia had handled two simultaneous transactions of PPB Oil Palm and IOS shares in making the secret profit.

She said Chia had acted for five parties, where he had represented Briskmark, owner of Arkwell Enterprise Ltd, was adviser to accounting firm Arthur Anderson, Kasitah and the SLDB, which put him in a serious position of conflict of interest by the many "hats" he wore.

"I cannot make a finding that Vincent Chia is an accomplice. However, from evidence gathered, it is extremely clear that Vincent Chia is an opportunist of the highest order, one without principles or scruples," Suraya added.

On the second charge, she said the prosecution's contention that Kasitah had knowledge of the 5:1 offer and had dishonestly concealed it from the board members during the board meeting on Oct 22, 1996, was not accurate because Wasli, the former general manager of SLDB, had admitted that the PPB Oil Palms deal was tabled at the March 4, 1996, meeting.

However, the offer was sidelined in favour of two local bumiputera companies at the Oct 22, 1996, meetings where, besides Mohd Tahir, another board member, Catherine Yong Shui Han, had positively admitted that members of the SLDB board knew of the 5:1 offer by PBB, she said.