Former land and cooperative development minister Kasitah Gaddam, who is facing two charges of graft involving RM24 million, is forced to wait for at least another six months before his trial commences.

Despite objections from his lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who wanted the Kuala Lumpur High Court to fix a definite hearing date, Justice Abdull Hamid Embong allowed the prosecution's request to have the case mentioned again on June 1, 2005.

"I appreciate and understand your concern, Mr Shafee but the problems of the prosecution arose unexpectedly so we will mention the case again," said the judge.

He also advised the prosecution, who was represented by deputy public prosecutor (DPP), Hanafiah Zakaria to speed -up its case.

"I hope parties will write to the court on the development of the case and should the problem is cleared earlier than expected, we could meet again and set the hearing dates," he added.

Two charges

Kasitah, 57, who was first charged on Feb 12, 2004, is alleged to have used his position as the executive chairperson of Sabah Land and Development Board (SLDB) for his pecuniary advantage by taking part in deliberations to approve a proposal for the sale of 16.8 million share units held by the Board in Sapi Plantation to Briskmark Enterprise Sdn Bhd. He was allegedly promised 3.36 million share units.

He is alleged to have committed the offence at the Forum Meeting Room in the Fairlane Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 22 1996.

The charge, under Section 2 (1) of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance No 22 1970, carries a maximum jail term of 14 years and a maximum fine of RM20,000 or both on conviction.

He faces a second charge for allegedly deceiving the board members by not disclosing to them the offer by PPB Oil Palms Sdn Bhd to allocate five share units of the company for one share unit of Sapi Plantation in the proposal by PPB Oil Palms for listing on the Malaysia Securities Exchange Bhd.

He had therefore dishonestly induced them to approve the sale of 16.8 million share units held by the Board in Sapi Plantations to Briskmark Enterprise whereas they would not have approved the sale of the share units if they had known about the offer by PPB Oil Palms.

This charge is under Section 417 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail term of five years or with fine or with both upon conviction.

Earlier, Hanafiah told the court that the status of the prosecution's application to have Kasitah jointly tried with former SLDB general manager Wasli Mohammad, who faces similar charges at the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court in Sabah, is still uncertain.

"When the matter was brought to the Court of Appeal recently, the court ruled that the appeal was incomplete due to some irregularities in our application at the initial stage.

"The court then referred the matter back to the sessions court. So we are back to square one," said the deputy public prosecutor.

He informed the court that the prosecution will be issuing a constitutional issue at the sessions court and there is a possibility that the matter will be transferred to the High Court and subsequently the Federal Court.

Unfair move

Shafee argued that the uncertain postponement was unfair to his client who had to face severe hardship since he was charged.

"He has been charged and although he is released on bail, his passport has been kept by the court (as part of the bail condition). It has been difficult since....even his accounts, including his personal ones, have been frozen (due to the investigations). Our request to release the accounts has received very slow response. So it's unfair for him that the matter be dragged for so long.

"The matter has been set for hearing but due to the prosecution's problem it had been set for a re-mention today. By right this case should be on the list for expedited cases and not the normal one," he said.

The court however dismissed his arguments.

Meanwhile, Shafee told reporters that the Attorney-General has yet to respond to the defence's request to review its prosecution against Kasitah.