Earlier today (Friday, 18th February), it was reported that Ebit Lew has been charged with 11 counts of sexual harassment in the Circuit Court in Tenom, Sabah.
According to a report by Sinar Harian, the famed Muslim preacher arrived at the court in a Toyota Vellfire, accompanied by a few other individuals under heavy police presence.
As per the reports, Ebit (full name is Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew), pleaded not guilty to the charges in front of Magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani. He was later released on a RM11,000 (RM1,000 per charge) bail and two sureties.
“I believe someone or a group of people had planned for this, I will get through it and I see this as a test from God,” the 37-year-old was quoted as saying, in commenting about the charges made against him.
Ebit further explained that he had already made plans to travel to Sabah earlier to conduct charity works during this time. Apart from that, it was reported that he was only informed about these charges against him a few days ago.
He said, “I’m shocked because we are here to do charity work, not to go to court. So I look at this as a test from God. It will not bring me down or stop me from carrying out community work here.” Ebit’s legal rep, Mohamed Zairi Zainal Abidin said the court had fixed 20th to 23rd April for case mention, and the hearing is set to be held sometime in June.
In case you missed it, the well-known icon was accused of sending lewd text messages and photos via WhatsApp to someone between March and June of last year. You can catch up on the drama here.
Sources: Sinar Harian, MMO , The Star.