What happened to my Honda Hybrid, Shahrir asks MACC

Ex-Johor Baru MP notes it has been four months since his acquittal

KUALA LUMPUR – Umno veteran Tan Sri Shahrir Samad has questioned the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) why his Honda Hybrid was not returned four months after his acquittal at the high court here.

Shahrir, who was charged with laundering RM1 million, took a swipe at the anti-graft agency for being “excited” to seize the car as evidence of his alleged crime.

“A day before I was acquitted, I wrote that the deputy public prosecutor had failed to understand the law, and the next day, the deputy public prosecutor told me not to describe them in such a manner.

“Fine, why has MACC not returned the car to me four months after I was acquitted?” he said in a Facebook post yesterday.

He added that the court had returned his bail money and passport a day after he was acquitted.

On January 5, the high court here discharged and acquitted Shahrir of his RM1 million money laundering charge after the court was informed that the prosecutors do not wish to pursue the case further.

Shahrir, 72, was previously facing a money-laundering charge by not stating his real income for the 2013 assessment year – which is a violation of Section 113(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1967 – on the RM1 million believed to be from unlawful activities, which he received from Najib.

The former Johor Baru MP allegedly committed the offence at the Inland Revenue Board, Duta Branch, Government Office Complex, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, here on April 25, 2014.

The RM1 million had been issued to him through a check from former Datuk Seri Najib Razak and deposited into Shahrir’s Public Islamic Bank account on November 28, 2013.

– The Vibes, May 6, 2023