The appellate court today upheld the acquittal of former rural ministry secretary-general Abdul Aziz Mohamed after the Sessions Court had in 2005 found him guilty of cheating and abetment in criminal breach of trust involving RM11 million of hardcore poor development project funds.

Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar led a panel of three judges who were unanimous in affirming the High Court's decision to acquit him in 2008.

The other judges on the bench were Justice Hasan Lah and Ahmad Maarop.

Abdul Aziz, 66, was initially sentenced to five years jail after Sessions Court judge Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab found him guilty of diverting to a questionable aqua-culture project in Terengganu RM9 million from funds earmarked for the hardcore poor.

He was also found guilty of abetting former Central Terengganu Development Authority (Ketengah) general manager Alwi Said, 57, in committing criminal breach of trust involving RM2 million.

Now a businessman, Aziz was said to have committed the offence together with millionaire Ooi Kee Siang, who is still at large, at the Kompleks Kewangan, Jalan Raja Chulan in Kuala Lumpur between April 27 and July 31, 1999.

Aziz was also found guilty of cheating Mustapa Mohamed, who was then the second finance minister, by deceiving him into believing that a Ketengah proposal to invest in an orchid, aqua- culture and recreation project in Tasik Puteri at Bukit Besi, Dungun, Terengganu, was viable.

Aziz was ordered by the Sessions Court to serve the jail sentence concurrently but the High Court had on Nov 16, 2008 acquitted and discharged him after allowing his appeal. The Court of Appeal today disallowed he prosecutor’s appeal against that acquittal.