Customs officer denies 43 bribery charges

A long list of charges: The accused (centre) being taken to the Sessions Court in Seremban before the 43 charges were read to him.

SEREMBAN: A Customs officer claimed trial at a Sessions Court here to 43 charges of accepting bribes amounting to almost RM70,000 over a five-year-period.

Mohammad Zyed Ibrahim, 41, pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to him before judge Meor Sulaiman Ahmad Tarmizi.

The charges, which took nearly an hour to be read by the court interpreter, detailed bribes received between Sept 16, 2017, and Jan 16, 2022, at a bank in Nilai.

The accused allegedly received the bribes from a company owner via online transfers.

These bribes were allegedly given so that lorries belonging to the company were not inspected when they left the Kuala Lumpur International Airport cargo complex.

Mohammad Zyed was charged under Section 17(a) and Section 24 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act, punishable under Section 24(1) of the same legislation.

Offenders can be jailed up to 20 years and fined not less than five times the amount of the bribe amount.

Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir opposed bail, arguing that Mohammad Zyed’s actions constituted a severe breach of public trust and tarnished the Customs Department’s reputation.

“This is a serious offence and the prosecution feels the accused is also a flight risk.

“The accused had failed to contact or surrender to the MACC although notices had been placed in the media,” he said.

Muhammad Asraf said the accused was eventually detained 65 days later, adding that this showed that he was not keen to cooperate with the MACC in its investigations.

The accused, he said, was detained at his mother’s house in Bintulu on May 7.

Counsel for the accused Muhamad Aizat Fakri appealed for bail as the accused was a single father to a five-year-old child.

He said the accused had been working as an ehailing driver and also had to provide for his mother and a brother with mental illness.

“The accused did not run away to Bintulu as that is his hometown.

“He merely went back to look after his mother and brother,” he said.

Judge Meor Sulaiman agreed with the prosecution and did not offer bail to the accused.

The court fixed June 14 for remention.