Madani Sahari, who used to lead the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and Internet of Things Institute (MARii), claimed trial to the charges before sessions court judge Rozilah Salleh this morning.

He is alleged to have committed the offences between July 2021 and February last year.

For the first and second charges, Madani was accused of using illegal proceeds to purchase RM1 million and RM2 million of Islamic Redeemable Preference Shares Class F on Sept 6, 2021 and Oct 20, 2021, respectively.

The offences were said to have taken place at the Subang Business Centre in Subang Jaya, Selangor.

The charges were framed under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (Amla) 2001.

Madani was also accused of being indirectly involved in transacting RM250,000 in illegal proceeds to the bank account of his lawyers, Norizan and Associates, through a confirmation and authorisation release order letter dated July 10, 2021.

The offence, alleged to have been committed at Hong Leong Islamic Bank Berhad in Shah Alam, was framed under the same section of Amla.

He was also accused of being indirectly involved in the transactions of RM105,000 and RM80,000 in illegal proceeds to the account of one Asyraf Hazwan Uzer through the law firm’s Letter of Instruction to Release on Oct 14, 2021 and Nov 16, 2021, respectively.

For the sixth charge, he was accused of being indirectly involved in a transaction involving RM200,000 in illegal proceeds to the account of one Intan Jusmira Jamaluddin through the law firm’s Letter of Instruction to Release on July 17, 2021.

In addition, he was accused of being indirectly involved in transactions involving RM170,000 and RM65,000 in illegal proceeds to Luqman Iswatt and Partners’ account on Jan 21, 2022 and Feb 21, 2022, respectively.

The final charge read that Madani was indirectly involved in a transaction involving RM130,000 to Arrowtech Ventures Sdn Bhd through another Letter of Instruction to Release on Nov 17, 2021.

These charges were allegedly committed at the same bank and framed under Section 4(1)(a) of the same Act.

Both sections provide for imprisonment not exceeding 15 years and fines of five times the amount of the illegal proceeds, upon conviction.

Rozilah allowed the case to be transferred to the Kuala Lumpur sessions court to be heard with the accused’s previous two charges, upon deputy public prosecutor Asraf Akhir’s request.

Madani was represented by Rahmat Hazlan and Rahmat Abu Bakar.

Previously, Madani had been slapped with two charges of soliciting and accepting a RM5 million bribe two years ago.