Tangkak civil servants claim trial to bribery charges

JOHOR BARU: Two Tangkak District Education Office assistant officers have claimed trial to bribery charges at the Sessions Court here.

They allegedly accepted money from a vocational college clerk some three years ago.

The accused, Abd Razak Mohd Darom, 40, and Muhammad Faizal Abd Razak, 37, pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out separately in front of Sessions judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Arifin Ismail on Wednesday (Dec 21).

Based on the charge sheet, Abd Razak was accused of receiving RM4,500 from Pagoh vocational college clerk Siti Aminah Nahar, 39, as an inducement for preparing food for a meeting over a seminar in 2019.

Muhammad Faizal was accused of accepting RM1,500 from Siti Aminah as an inducement for the same service for a strategic management workshop.

Both of them allegedly knew that the programmes were not carried out and failed to report the bribes to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The acts were said to have been committed at the Tangkak education office in November 2019.

They were charged under Section 25(1) of the MACC Act 2009, punishable under Section 25(2) of the same Act, which carries a fine of RM100,000 or imprisonment of not more than 10 years, or both, upon conviction.

Meanwhile, in the same courtroom, Siti Aminah also pleaded not guilty to four charges of falsifying government order applications, direct purchase documents and supplier invoices and delivery orders totalling RM12,273, with the intention to use the forged documents for fraudulent purposes.

The mother of seven was charged under Section 468 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail sentence of not more than seven years and a fine upon conviction.

She also pleaded not guilty to four alternative charges of using the documents involved as genuine, when she knew them to be false.

The alleged offences are punishable by up to two years' jail, a fine or both upon conviction.

She is alleged to have committed the offences at the Tangkak education office between August and December 2019.

MACC prosecution officer Nik Lokman Hakim Nik Mohd Nor informed the court that the offences were non-bailable, but left it to the judge's discretion.

He suggested RM10,000 bail each for Abd Razak and Muhammad Faizal, and RM40,000 for Siti Aminah, with additional conditions.

Ahmad Kamal then set bail at RM5,000 each for Abd Razak and Muhammad Faizal, and RM20,000 for Siti Aminah.

He also ordered all three accused to hand over their passports to the court and report to the Segamat MACC office once a month until the disposal of their cases.

He then set Jan 12 and 19 for next mention of the cases.

All three posted bail.