KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 4): The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) has dismissed the representation by Segambut Bersatu deputy division chief Adam Radlan Adam Muhammad on 12 charges of corruption and money laundering against him.

In the Sessions Court here on Wednesday, deputy public prosecutor Farah Yasmin Salleh informed presiding judge Suzana Hussin that the AGC had studied Adam's representations and dismissed them.

Adam submitted the representations through his lawyers on July 4. Representations are when the accused party sends a letter or letters to the attorney general to get him to reconsider the charges.

Adam’s lawyer Datuk Seri Rajan Navaratnam then informed the court that the trial can commence on the date set previously, which is Nov 13, where the defence will proceed with cross-examining the prosecution's first witness, R Harshini, an assistant registrar of the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

The prosecution informed the court previously that they will call 20 witnesses in the trial.

Adam was charged with two graft charges in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Feb 21 this year.

In the first charge, he allegedly solicited a bribe amount of 3.5% to 7% of the total amount of a roadwork project worth RM47.8 million from Mat Jusoh Mamat, who is the managing director of MIE Infrastructure & Energy Sdn Bhd.

In the second charge, he allegedly received RM500,000 in his CIMB Bank account from Jusoh Mamat, as an inducement for helping MIE secure the roadwork project from Jalan Sg Adam to Kg Banat, Perlis, awarded under the then government's Jana Wibawa programme.

A day later on Feb 22, Adam was pressed with two other graft charges, this time in the Shah Alam Sessions Court.

In the first charge, he allegedly received RM2 million in bribes from a person by the name of Lian Tan Chuan, for helping Lian’s company Nepturis Sdn Bhd to obtain a contract in the Klang Utara district for its head office from the government, worth RM141 million.

The second charge states that Adam allegedly received RM2.1 million from Mat Jusoh for a separate roadwork project from Jalan Sg Adam to Kg Banat, Perlis, which cost RM47.8 million.

Later on Feb 28, Adam was charged with soliciting and asking for a bribe from Lian to allegedly help Nepturis secure a contract for the Klang Utara district police headquarters project, worth RM141 million.

All charges were framed under Section 16(a)(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, and punishable under Section 24 of the same Act, which carries up to 20 years’ jail, and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

Jana Wibawa, or Program Jana Ekonomi Pemerkasaan Kontraktor Bumiputera Berwibawa, was mooted during the Perikatan Nasional administration, in which Bersatu was a component party.

The then government of the day said the programme was set up to improve the capacity of Bumiputera contractors in the construction industry, as well as to expedite project rollouts to spur the nation’s economic recovery post Covid-19.