Former MPOB officer pleads not guilty to bribery charges

 

A former administrative officer of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) was charged in the Ipoh Sessions Court today with two counts of soliciting and receiving bribe last year.

However, Selamat Mulyono Juni, 37, pleaded not guilty after the charges against him were read before judge S Indra Nehru.

According to the first charge, the accused, as an administrative officer working at the MPOB regional office in Butterworth, Penang, was alleged to have solicited RM6,000 bribe from Shafrullah Abu Kasim to eliminate photographic evidence that Shafrullah’s company, Khaffa Vision Enterprise, had conducted the sale of oil palm fruit after its fruit dealer licence had expired.

He was alleged to have committed the offence at the MPOB regional office in Butterworth, at 6 pm, on Oct 14, last year and he was charged under Section 16 (a) (B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 which is punishable under Section 24 of the same law.

For the second charge, Selamat Mulyono was charged with receiving an RM1,500 bribe from the same individual, for the same reason.

He was alleged to have committed the offence at a restaurant in Parit Buntar here at 6.35pm on Oct 20 last year and the charge was framed under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act 2009 which is punishable under Section 24 of the same law.

For both charges, he 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, upon conviction.

Deputy public prosecutor from the MACC Nurul Wahida Jalaluddin offered an RM20,000 bail in one surety for all charges but the accused who was not represented by a lawyer appealed for a lower bail on the grounds that he has a six-month-old baby suffering from a brain tumour and he was unemployed.

The court allowed the accused a bail of RM10,000 in one surety and set May 20 for mention.

- Bernama