Kota Kinabalu: Two policemen were jailed f three years and fined a total of RM32,500 for asking and accepting bribes as an inducement not to take action against a man who was in possession of syabu.
Sessions Court Judge Jason Juga handed the sentence to Corporal Baharrudin Tuge, 47, and Lans Corporal Mohd Izzam Gorudin, 40, who were found guilty of the charges against them on Thursday.
The court ruled that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt against the duo and convicted them on the charges.
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On the first count, Baharrudin was jailed a year and fined RM10,000 in default six months in jail for accepting bribe of RM500 from Cheung Lai Peng, as inducement not to take action against his worker Shafiqqurazi Alitus Abdullah who was in possession of syabu.
The offence took place at 4.30pm on Aug 7, 2017 inside a car parked in Jalan Inobong Putaton Bunsadon, Penampang.
On the second count, he was jailed one year and fined RM10,000, or spend six months in prison for receiving bribe of RM300 for the same purpose from the same person who banked the money into Baharrudin’s account bank.
He committed the offence at 10.41am on Aug 8, 2017 at the Maybank in Penampang.
The court ordered Baharrudin to serve the jail sentences concurrently.
The offence under Section 17(a) of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) 2009 carries a jail term of up to 20 years, and a fine of five times of the amount involved or RM10,000, which is the highest, on conviction.
Meanwhile, Mohd Izzam was jailed a year and fined RM12,500 in default six months’ jail for receiving bribe of RM2,500 for the same purpose from Shafiqqurazi at 2.30pm on Aug 7, 2017 inside a car parked in Jalan Inobong Putaton Bunsadon, Penampang.
Seventeen prosecution and five defence witnesses testified in the hearing.
The court granted the duo’s application to stay execution of the jail sentence pending appeal against the decision to the High Court but the fine must be paid on Thursday.
The notice of appeal must be filed within 14 days from the date of their conviction.
MACC Prosecuting Officer Dzulkarnain Rousan Hasbi appeared for the prosecution while counsel Azhier Arisin defended the duo.