Three ministry officers plead not guilty in Kota Kinabalu to accepting bribes

The accused, Mohamad Nazri, 38, Tonny Ramlee, 40, and Rosdeh Likum, 40, were charged together for accepting bribes while on duty as Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry’s assistant enforcement officers in Beaufort. — Reuters pic

KOTA KINABALU, June 19 — Three civil servants pleaded not guilty to two charges of bribery in the Special Corruption Court here, today.

The accused, Mohamad Nazri, 38, Tonny Ramlee, 40, and Rosdeh Likum, 40, were charged together for accepting bribes while on duty as Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP)’s assistant enforcement officers in Beaufort.

For the first charge, the three men allegedly commited the offence on April 14, 2017, between 12.25pm to 12.50pm at Jack Trading, Lot 24, Ground Floor Lo Chung Park in Beaufort district, in which they had agreed to accept a RM600 bribe from a shop owner.

For the second charge on the same day and time, the three of them intentionally solicited a bribe of RM600 in cash from the shop owner.

The shop owner was said to have committed an offence under Regulation 3(1) Price Control Order 1993.

Mohamad, Tonny and Rosdeh were charged under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 (Act 694) which could be sentenced under Section 24(1) of the same act and is read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

Upon conviction, they could be jailed up to 20 years and fine five times the amount of bribes or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

MACC public prosecutor Michael Joimin, prosecuted, before Judge Abu Bakar Manat while the three accused were represented by lawyer Mohamad Amirul Amin.

They were allowed bail at RM10,000 each in one surety and the case will be mentioned on August 10. — Bernama