SEREMBAN: A 43-year-old Chinese national claimed trial at the Sessions Court here to a charge of abetting a local individual to offer a RM50,000 bribe to a Department of Environment (DOE) officer.
The bribe was allegedly meant to prevent action from being taken against the local individual, Soon Kein Chong, for allegedly breaching several provisions of the Environmental Quality Act 1974.
Jiang Fanjun pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to him before Judge Mohamad Kamil Nizam.
The accused was charged with abetting Soon, 40, to bribe the 45-year-old government officer to prevent action being taken against Soon for allegedly operating an electronic waste (e-waste) facility without a licence.
Soon had also allegedly failed to obtain a written permission to run the facility from the DOE director-general, failed to obtain the environmental impact assessment approval and the go ahead to store scheduled waste on-site.
Jiang was charged with committing the offence around 1pm on Feb 12 last year at the Nilai Industrial Area.
He was charged under Section 28(1)(c) of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Act 2009, read together with Section 17(b)(1) and punishable under Section 24(1).
Offenders can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined at least five times the bribe value or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
MACC prosecuting officer Muhammad Arif Asyraf Mohd Khairi then told the court his team was offering the accused bail of RM20,000 with two local sureties pending next mention.
He also asked the accused to surrender his passport to the court, to report at the MACC office once a month until his case is disposed of and to stay away from prosecution witnesses.
Lawyer Muhammad Denial Khairul Hizam said the defence had no objections to the conditions.
Judge Mohamad Kamil then fixed bail at RM20,000 with two local sureties and allowed the other applications by the prosecution.
On Jan 23, Soon had also claimed trial to the charges before Judge N Kanageswari.
He was also allowed bail of RM20,000 with one surety.
Both cases are set for next mention on March 6.
