Malaysian Land Minister gets bail on graft charge
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-12 13:35

A Malaysian minister pleaded not guilty Thursday to graft charges over millions of dollars in share deals in the highest-ranking arrest since Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi took office on a clean government ticket.

Minister of Land and Cooperative Development Kasitah Gaddam, dressed in a suit and tie, looked calm as anti-corruption officials brought him into a packed Kuala Lumpur court.

The 57-year-old pleaded not guilty to two counts of corruption and was granted bail of one million ringgit ($260,000) for a trial to be fixed at a later date.

Abdullah, who came to office in October, has portrayed himself as a new broom sweeping through Malaysia since taking charge, ordering a crackdown on red tape and corruption in business, the government and the police.

The high-profile arrest comes with a general election likely within months or even weeks. The charges against Kasitah said he abused his post as chairman of the Sabah Land Development Board in the eastern state on the island of Borneo for his own financial benefit.

Kasitah's arrest was linked to share transactions valued at 30 million-40 million ringgit ($7.9-$10.5 million) made by Sabah Land Development, Anti-Corruption Agency Deputy Director General Zawawi Nordin said in a report by the Bernama news agency.

The politician had been summoned earlier in the day to the agency headquarters in the administrative capital, Putrajaya, to assist with investigations and was arrested there.

Tuesday, Eric Chia Eng Hock, former head of Malaysia's state-controlled Perwaja Steel and the first big businessman arrested for corruption-linked charges under Abdullah, pleaded not guilty to criminal breach of trust and was freed on bail. ($1 = 3.8 ringgit)

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