The sessions court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has cleared Aker Solutions’ manager Ahmad Hatta Kamaruzzaman of charges over false information to win licenses from state energy player Petronas.
The Norwegian engineering firm said the court had found that the charge was vague, misleading and did not state the particulars of the offence and thus did not fulfill the provisions under the Penal Code. The court further found the charge to be groundless and fundamentally defective.
“Our colleague Hatta Kamaruzzaman and Aker Solutions have objected to the charge from the start, and we are pleased to see that the court has concluded the same way. The last few months have been very challenging for Hatta and his family, and we are glad that this ordeal can now be put behind them,” said Anders Hannevik, executive vice president and head of customers and strategy at Aker Solutions.
Ahmad Hatta Kamaruzzaman was accused in June of submitting documents with intent to mislead Petronas to enlist Syarikat Aker Engineering Malaysia as a company with Bumiputera status. Malaysia has a quota system, where a large part of contracts from state-affiliated companies are reserved for ethnic Malays and indigenous people.
