Bung Moktar grateful five-year struggle now over

KUALA LUMPUR - Kinabatangan Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar Radin expressed his gratitude that his five-year struggle with his wife Datin Seri Zizie Izette Abdul Samad in the corruption case filed against them was finally over with their acquittal by the High Court today.

Bung, 66, also thanked the legal team and those who prayed for him all this time.

"Thank you very much, may Allah reward their kindness," he said when met by reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex.

Asked if the charges against him were politically motivated, the UMNO Supreme Council member said that it was indeed.

Meanwhile, lawyer M. Athimulan, representing Bung Moktar, said the hard work of the defence team had paid off.

Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid acquitted and discharged the couple after allowing their applications for a revision against the Sessions Court's decision in ordering them to enter their defence on the corruption charges amounting to RM2.8 million involving a RM150 million investment in Public Mutual Berhad unit trust.

The Sessions Court, on Sept 2 last year, ordered Bung Mokhtar and Zizie Izette to defend themselves on the three charges of corruption and they then filed an application for review in the High Court against the Sessions Court's decision. - BERNAMA