KUALA TERENGGANU: A police sergeant pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here today to 34 counts of bribery amounting to RM12,500 over a span of three years from 2019.
Mohd Izzham Halim, 36, who is attached to the Kemaman district police headquarters (IPD) narcotics criminal investigations department (NCID), is accused of receiving bribes between RM50 to RM3,200 from an individual as an inducement to channel information on the operations undertaken by district police narcotics officers between Dec 26, 2019 until March 10 last year.
For all the charges, Mohd Izzham was charged under Section 16(a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and faces imprisonment of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the gratification, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, if found guilty.
Judge Mohd Azhar Othman fixed bail at RM11,000 with one surety and ordered the accused to surrender his passport to the court and to also report to the MACC office once a month. Case management was set for April 3.
Meanwhile, at the same court, a company manager, Ezza Suria Muda, 38, was fined RM38,000 after pleading guilty to falsifying documents three years ago.
She was charged with two counts of falsifying documents, namely the Employee Registration Form under the Employees' Social Security (General) Regulations 1971 (Regulations 10, 12 and 12A) dated Nov 3, 2020 and Nov 23, 2020 at Akademi Binaan Malaysia (ABM) in Hulu Terengganu in November 2020.
Ezza Suria had been charged under Section 471 of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum jail term of two years or a fine or both, if convicted.
Mohd Azhar also ordered that RM309,000 in the accused company's account be forfeited to the Malaysian government. -Bernama