Court upholds acquittal of duo in RM1.1mil Bernas rice theft case

Court upholds acquittal of duo in RM1.1mil Bernas rice theft case

Judge says the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the lorry driver and the stock clerk.

mahkamah butterworth
The Butterworth High Court found no basis to overturn the acquittal of the two men in the rice theft case.
BUTTERWORTH:
The High Court here has upheld the acquittal of two men charged with criminal breach of trust (CBT) over the theft of more than RM1.1 million worth of rice belonging to Padi Beras Nasional Bhd (Bernas).

Justice Fathiyah Idris ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against lorry driver Ramanathan Chelliah Chettiar, 57, and stock clerk Mohamad Taufik Akman, 34.

She said there was no basis for the High Court to overturn the sessions court’s decision to acquit both men.

Ramanathan and Taufik were accused of misappropriating 510,050kg of Thai white rice stored in the Bernas warehouse in Perai between August 2016 and March 2017.

They were charged separately under Section 408 of the Penal Code for CBT, read with Section 109 for abetment, but tried together.

A third accused, Khairie Noor, the former warehouse chief, was also charged in 2017 and acquitted last year.

However, the prosecution was unable to serve him a notice of appeal, as he is believed to have absconded.

Deputy public prosecutor Lokman Kasim appeared for the prosecution. S Meharaj represented Ramanathan, while Arif Shaharuddin from the Legal Aid Department appeared for Taufik.

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