Ex-director, wife face 68 charges for accepting bribes

Claimed trial: Chuah and Wong leaving the Sessions Court in Shah Alam.

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 for all charges read to them before Sessions judge Awang Kerisnada Awang Mahmud.

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

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

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

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 proposed a bail of RM200,000 for each accused, demanded them to surrender their passports to the court and instructed the couple to report to the MACC once a month.

However, defence counsel Adam Haikal for Chuah and Wong said the couple had three children who were pursuing tertiary education. They also had to care for an ailing 92-year-old mother, he added.

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

He fixed June 10 for the case to be mentioned.