Malaysian politician tried for smuggling

Malaysian politician tried for smuggling

BRISBANE, Australia (AP): A former Malaysian politician was carrying so much cash when he boarded a plane in Australia in 1996 that his bag weighed almost four times the limit for carry- on luggage, a court heard yesterday.

Muhammad Muhammad Taib, 51, a former chief minister of Selangor state, pleaded not guilty in the District Court to two cash-smuggling charges relating to a total of more than US$740,000 in foreign currency found in his luggage.

He is charged with falsely stating the amount of cash he brought into Australia on Dec. 16, 1996, and with failing to declare currency exceeding the legal limit of A$5,000 when he tried to leave Australia on Dec. 22.

On the first day of his criminal trial, prosecutor Cate Holmes told a jury that when Taib entered Australia, he filled in documentation attesting he was carrying only 20,000 Malaysian ringgit (A$5,000).