UMS professor acquitted of 21 false claims charges
KOTA KINABALU: A university professor walked free from the Special Corruption Court today after being acquitted on 21 charges of making false claims for research funds related to Sabah’s marine life.
A university professor from Malaysia was acquitted of 21 charges of making false claims involving research funds for marine life studies in Sabah. The Special Corruption Court judge, Jason Juga, found the prosecution had not met the burden of proof required in Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009. The judge stated that there were doubts in the evidence presented, rendering the charges unproven.
Prof Dr Charles Santhanaraju Vairappan claimed trial to all 21 charges on July 20, 2022, and was accused of submitting false claim documents to the Jabatan Bendahari UMS between 2014 and 2017. The receipts stated payments ranging from RM300 to RM5,550, totaling RM66,190, for various expenses when no such expenditures existed. The maximum penalty for conviction under Section 24(2) of the same Act is a 20-year jail term and a fine of five times the amount involved, up to RM10,000. The prosecution called 26 witnesses during the hearing.
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