KUALA LUMPUR: Four former bank officers pleaded not guilty in two Sessions Courts here on Friday (Oct 17) to charges of accepting bribes totalling RM177,769.39 related to personal loan applications from customers.
The accused are Noor Iskandar Aziz, 44, and Muhammad Najmi Mu'az Pekan, 34, both now e-hailing drivers, Amir Hafizi Anuar, 29, a salesman, and Syazwan Akmal Badran, 33, an employee of a private company.
In court before Judges Rosli Ahmad and Azura Alwi, Noor Iskandar, a former marketing officer at a bank in Putrajaya, faced 10 counts of accepting bribes totalling RM94,173 from CSA Infinite Consultancy Company, Ong Kim Hock, Ong Mun Ho, Lim Kim Yen, and Anas Syazwan Abd Samad.
Also charged before Judge Rosli was Muhammad Najmi Mu'az, a former consumer finance executive at a bank in Shah Alam, with two counts of receiving bribes totalling RM5,567 from JWW Titans Trading and Lim.
Amir Hafizi, a former marketing officer at a bank in Kajang, faced seven counts of receiving bribes totalling RM37,347.76 from CSA Infinite Company, JZ Solution Company, and Lim.
They were accused of accepting bribes as a reward for assisting in the processing of personal financing applications for customers of CSA Academy Company, who had concurrently submitted similar applications to several other financial institutions. This led to the customers obtaining multiple loans that exceeded their eligibility.
Meanwhile, Syazwan Akmal, a former marketing officer at a bank in Petaling Jaya, pleaded not guilty before Judge Azura Alwi. He was charged with eight counts of receiving bribes totalling RM42,681.63 from JWW Titans Company, CSA Infinite Company, Lim, and JZ Solution Company for similar purposes.
All offences were allegedly committed at Maybank and RHB Bank in Shah Alam and Kuala Lumpur between Oct 5, 2021, and July 5, 2024.
The charges were framed under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which provides a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
The court granted bail to Noor Iskandar, Muhammad Najmi Mu'az, Amir Hafizi, and Syazwan Akmal at RM25,000, RM10,000, RM20,000, and RM15,000 respectively, with one surety each. Additional conditions include surrendering their passports to the court.
They are also required to report once a month at the MACC office and not interfere with prosecution witnesses.
The court set the mention date for Noor Iskandar's case on Nov 20, and Dec 10 for the case involving Muhammad Najmi Mu'az and Amir Hafizi, while Dec 3 was set for the mention of Syazwan Akmal's case.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutors Nurul Izzati Sapifee, M. Esther Jacyntha, and Nidzuwan Abd Latip. Lawyers A. Rayveni, Abdul Hakeem Aiman Mohd Affandi, and Humaidi Zulkifli represented the accused, except Syazwan Akmal, who was unrepresented. – Bernama
