Former massage chain director and wife in court for accepting bribes

SHAH ALAM: A former director of a massage centre and his wife were slapped with 68 charges at the Sessions Court here for receiving financial inducement from a massage oil supplier.

Chuah Seong Keat, 59, and Wong Choi Nyet, 58, claimed trial to all charges read to them in Malay before Sessions Judge Awang Kerisnada Awang Mahmud.

They were charged under Section 16 (a) (A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.

If found guilty, both face a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine not less than five times the amount of the bribe or RM10,000 - whichever is higher.

According to the facts of the case, Chuah, who was a director of a Thai massage facility chain, and Wong, had from 2014 to 2020 received bribes amounting to RM656,395 from the massage oil supplier.

The purpose of the financial inducement was for the supplier to be awarded the job of supplying massage oil to the massage centre chain.

DPP Mohd Alimi Mustapha suggested bail to be set at RM200,000 per accused and requested for their passports to be surrendered to the court as well as for the couple to report to the MACC once a month.

The couple’s defence counsel Adam Haikal told the bench that Chuah and Wong had three children who were pursuing tertiary education.

He added they also had a 92-year-old mother who was ailing to take care of.

Awang Kerisnada set bail at RM100,000 each with separate sureties as well as ordered for the couple to surrender their passports and report to the MACC every month.

He also fixed June 10 for the case to be mentioned.