MACC officers bring case documents related to the case of eight Road Transport Department (RTD) officials and one former Land and Public Transport Commission (SPAD) official who are charged with 164 counts of accepting bribes to the Butterworth Magistrate’s Court May 28, 2019. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin
SEBERANG PERAI, May 28 — Eight Road Transport Department (RTD) officials and one former official with the Land and Public Transport Commission (SPAD) were today charged with a whopping 164 counts of accepting bribes totalling RM136,010 at the Special Sessions Court for Corruption here.
The nine civil servants, all based in Penang, were each slapped with between 11 and 33 charges for receiving bribes of between RM24,100 and RM4,210 on separate occasions at various banks in Bukit Mertajam.
They allegedly accepted the bribes over a course of three years, from January 16, 2015 to August 20, 2018 from Ooi Cheng Keat, a director of Sam Lian Transport & Tyre Sdn Bhd and TSR Transport Sdn Bhd.
The bribes were allegedly deposited into the bank accounts of the respective accused and that of a third party.
Below is the list of charges for each of the nine:
They were charged either under Section 165 of the Penal Code for obtaining any valuable thing without consideration from the person concerned in any proceeding or business transacted by the public servant or Section 16(a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission Act 2009 for soliciting a bribe.
Section 165 Penal Code provides for a jail term of up to two years, a fine or both while Section 16(a)(B) of the MACC Act 2009 provides a jail term of not more than 20 years and a fine of not less than five times of the amount of bribe received or RM10,000 whichever is higher.
Mohd Noor Fadzny and Muhamad Syukri were unrepresented and told to appoint lawyers for the next date.
Deputy Public Prosecutor S. Selvaranjini prosecuted the case while K. Mahendren represented Muniandy and Ashwinder Kaur represented the remaining six suspects.
Judge Nizam Zakaria ordered for all of the suspects’ passports to be impounded.
She fixed July 2 for mention of the case.
