Otman Arsahd is standing trial on 32 corruption-related charges and 64 money laundering charges.

Of the 32 corruption charges, 17 are in relation to submitting false claims, while the remainder relate to allegations of abuses of power.

Otman was alleged to have submitted false claims to a National Sports Council (NSC) finance division director for payment of RM36.3 million to companies linked to him.

He was also accused of using his position as secretary in the ministry’s finance division to instruct the NSC director-general to pay a sum of RM2.16 million to companies linked to his children for organising various ministry programmes.

Lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali said the decision date was fixed after the defence told judge Kamarudin Kamsun they wanted to file further submissions to respond to the prosecution.

The defence claims Otman had no authority to instruct NSC to make payments to these companies.

On the false claim charges, the lawyer said the evidence presented during the trial had failed to show Otman had the intention of submitting false claims.

The prosecution, however, told the court the defence was a mere bare denial and failed to raise a reasonable doubt to their case.

A total of 70 witnesses testified for the prosecution while Otman was the sole defence witness.