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Perak Syariah Court judge Hassan Basri Markum was sentenced to a total of 19 years’ jail and fined RM210,000 after he was found guilty of seven corruption charges by the Sessions Court here. He is the first Syariah judge to be sentenced for corruption. However, as Sessions judge Tan Hooi Leng ruled yesterday that some of the sentences are to run concurrently, Hassan Basri, 56, will only need to serve 10 years in jail. In passing judgment, Tan said the defence had failed to cast reasonable doubt on the charges against Hassan Basri. ”The court cannot accept the money was meant to pay off a loan,” she said. Tan, however, allowed the defence’s application for a stay of execution pending an appeal and set RM5,000 (total RM35,000) bail for each charge. As Tan was reading out her judgment, Hassan Basri’s wife Maznah Idris was seen sobbing in the public gallery. Hassan Basri, who was charged under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997, was accused of: > Soliciting a bribe of RM3,000 from Moh

THERE is so much on his plate, yet British High Commissioner Simon Featherstone is excited about being London’s man in Kuala Lumpur. The good-natured envoy even made a recce trip to KL to check out his new job before taking up his posting in October. Featherstone: Excited to be London’s man in Kuala Lumpur.   “I’ve actually been here two months and it’s been a fascinating first eight weeks. I think I’m going to enjoy the posting enormously,’’ he tells The Star in his maiden interview. With trade, education, people and politics as the key areas for him to focus on, the good-natured Mandarin-speaking envoy says he intends to build on the strong political framework for these activities to flourish. Your forte is trade as exemplified by your work as Ambassador to Switzerland and consul-general in Shanghai. How much of that is going to weigh down here? Trade and investments are key parts of our relationship with Malaysia and indeed the new (British) Government very much wants high c

Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who was warded at the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital in Kubang Kerian since last Thursday, has been discharged on Tuesday. His press secretary Mohd Fadzli Shaari said however Nik Abdul Aziz still needed to rest at home. "He left the ward at about 10am on Tuesday," he said on Wednesday. Nik Abdul Aziz, 79, was warded for back problems due to an old spinal injury he sustained after falling off a horse in the past. Mohd Fadzli said the Mentri Besar would be required to do follow-up treatment at the hospital on Saturday