Five Sabah civil servants plead not guilty to false claim charges

Alif (left, with facemask) leaving with his lawyer after being charged for making a false claim.

KOTA KINABALU: Five state government officers have been charged in the Special Corruption Court here on Tuesday (July 18) with making false claims on their transfer cost to various districts amounting to RM61,500.

Sabah Town and Regional Planning Department officers Ady Said, 38; Myron Masing, 40; Alif Abdul Fatah, 35; Mohd Effendi Awang Damit, 31; and Rozidah Samudin, 52; pleaded not guilty to the charges framed under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.

Ady was also slapped with five more charges of abetting his colleagues in committing the offence.

All the offences were allegedly committed at the department's office here on different dates and times between 2017 and 2020.

They were charged before Special Corruption Court judge Jason Juga who allowed all five bail ranging from RM10,000 to RM15,000 with a local surety.

The judge also ordered them to surrender their passports and instructed them not to have any interaction with the prosecution witnesses.

The court also ordered them to report to the Sabah MACC office once every two months.

The MACC prosecution was led by Dzulkarnain Rousan Hasbi while the accused were represented by their respective counsels.

Ady was charged for submitting a transport company receipt of RM 6,450 for the transfer of his household goods and vehicles dated Sept 8, 2020. However, the transport was never provided.

The five other charges levelled at Ady were for abetting Rozidah, Myron, Alif and Effendi in making similar false claims between 2017 and 2020.

The abetment charge was under Section 28(1)(c) of the MACC Act.

Rozidah was accused of making the false claims twice, on Oct 2, 2017 and Sept 5, 2019. She claimed RM17,000 for the transfer of her household goods and vehicles on each occasion.

Alif was accused of committing a similar offence for an RM8,480 claim on Aug 23, 2019 while Myron and Effendi were each accused of committing a similar offence on Sept 8, 2020 involving RM6,250.