In a Facebook post, Puad noted that the Kuala Lumpur sessions court had acquitted Segambut Bersatu deputy chief Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad of five corruption charges and seven money laundering charges after the payment of a RM4.1 million compound.

Deputy public prosecutor Farah Yasmin Salleh informed the court that the prosecution had accepted Adam Radlan’s representation letter, in which he offered to pay a compound under Section 92(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amla).

She said Adam Radlan paid the RM4.1 million on Aug 18.

“As far as I know, ‘minor’ offences such as traffic summonses may be compounded as an administrative settlement, but not to reduce punishment,” said Puad.

“Can Amla, which allows for compounds, be applied to compound multimillion-ringgit corruption cases?

“MACC must provide an explanation.”

The corruption charges against Adam Radlan were framed under Section 16(a)(A) of the MACC Act 2009 and would have been punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

The money laundering charges were framed under Section 4(1)(b) of Amla, which provides for imprisonment of up to 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the proceeds from the unlawful activities or RM5 million, whichever is higher.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers had initially rejected Adam Radlan’s representations over his corruption and money laundering charges.