Power theft: Trader charged with bribing TNB officer over bitcoin mining

IPOH: A trader was charged at the Sessions Court here with offering RM126,500 in bribes to a Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) officer last Monday (Feb 28), in connection with bitcoin mining activities.

Ding Ai Sing, 50, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him in mandarin before Judge Meor Sulaiman Ahmad Tarmizi on Friday (March 4).

According to the charge, Ding was accused of bribing a 30-year-old TNB officer through another man, aged 36, as an inducement not to take action against the premises operator who was suspected of stealing electricity around Klang Valley to carry out bitcoin mining activities.

The offence was allegedly committed in a hotel room at the Taman Ipoh Commercial Centre, Jalan Dato Lau Pak Kuan, here, at 10.53am on Feb 28.

He was charged under Section 16(b)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24(1) of the same law, which provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the total value of the bribe or RM10,000 whichever is higher.

Ding also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of offering the same amount of bribe to the same TNB officer as an inducement to avoid legal action being taken under Section 378 of the Penal Code against the premises operator for allegedly stealing electricity around the Klang Valley to carry out the bitcoin mining activities.

He was charged with committing the offence at the same location and time under Section 214 of the Penal Code.

The judge allowed the accused a bail of RM200,000 in two sureties and imposed additional conditions that the accused must report to the Ipoh MACC office once a month and surrender his passport to the court.

The court then fixed April 25 for mention.

Last Tuesday (March 1), MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki revealed electricity theft by a bitcoin mining syndicate from 2018 to 2021 had caused losses of over RM2.3bil to the government.

Following that, the MACC detained 18 local men, including the syndicate’s mastermind, aged between their 30s and 60s, in a nationwide operation. - Bernama