Police station chief and fireman charged with accepting bribes from massage parlour

SHAH ALAM: A police station head and a Fire and Rescue Department officer have been charged at the Sessions Court here on Friday (March 29) for accepting bribes and assisting in setting up an illegal massage parlour.

Mohd Alfian Mohd Zainal 34, the Kajang police station chief, was charged with two counts under Section 165 of the Penal Code for receiving a total of RM1,000 in bribes from Wong Cheng Keong on Sept 27 and Oct 25 in 2015.

The charge under Section 165 of the Penal Code provides for a jail term up to two years, or with a fine, or both.

Alfian pleaded not guilty.

Judge Rofiah Mohamad set the bail for Alfian at RM12,000 with one surety and ordered him to surrender his international passport to the court.

She set mention for the case on April 30 and ordered Alfian to present himself once a month at the nearest Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office.

MACC prosecutor Michael Joimin had earlier offered RM10,000 bail for each charge.

However, Alfian's lawyer Muhammad Hidir Mustafa raised an objection against Joimin's proposal, saying that his client had been cooperative to the MACC since he was arrested on March 13, 2017.

Hidir also pointed out that Alfian was married with four kids aged nine, six, three and one.

Meanwhile, Shah Kamil Ghani, 35, a grade KB19 officer from the Fire and Rescue Department, was slapped with three counts of graft involving RM2,000 under Section 16(a)(B) of the MACC Act 2009.

He was accused of receiving RM1,000 and RM500 on March 30, 2016, and RM500 on April 1, 2016, as kickbacks from Wong in assisting the massage parlour in obtaining support letter from the Fire and Rescue Department over an application for a business licence.

Shah Kamil pleaded not guilty.

If found guilty, Shah Kamil can be jailed up to 20 years, a fine not less than five times the amount of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

Alfian and Shah Kamil were both arrested on March 13, 2017.

Rofiah set bail at RM21,000 with a surety, ordered Shah Kamil to surrender his international passport and set April 29 as the case mention date.

At the same time, Rofiah also issued a warrant of arrest against a local town council officer for failing to attend the hearing on Friday (March 29).

The unnamed officer did not attend the hearing, despite being informed by the investigating officer and have promised to attend.