SHAH ALAM: An alleged "tonto" (lookout) pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here to 55 charges of giving RM62,900 in bribes to three traffic police officers between January 2022 and February this year.
Ang Lie Giap, 33, entered the plea after all the charges were read out before judge Datuk Mohd Nasir Nordin on Thursday (Oct 8).
He is alleged to have corruptly given money to three traffic police officers from the Petaling Jaya district police headquarters, Negri Sembilan contingent police headquarters and Kesas Expressway EMPV patrol office, as an inducement for them not to inspect lorries during roadblocks.
The bribes were allegedly given in several transactions at bank branches in Klang and Setia Alam, involving amounts ranging from RM700 to RM2,000.
In a separate case, logistics manager R Yuvarajakumar, 42, also pleaded not guilty at the same court to 16 charges of giving RM4,200 in bribes to a Road Transport Department (JPJ) enforcement assistant between May 2023 and October 2024.
The father of two is alleged to have corruptly given money to the enforcement assistant at Wangsa Maju JPJ through several transactions into several bank accounts belonging to a woman at a bank branch in Sungai Buloh, as an inducement for the officer not to inspect lorries.
All the offences were allegedly committed under Section 17(b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and are punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, which provides for imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount or value of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
The prosecution in both cases was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Asmaa’ Zamri, who offered bail of RM15,000 for Ang and RM10,000 for Yuvarajakumar, with one surety each.
She also sought additional conditions that both accused report to the MACC once a month, surrender their passports and not interfere with prosecution witnesses.
Lawyer K Theivaendran, representing Ang, applied for the bail to be reduced to RM10,000 and for his passport not to be surrendered to the court, as his client needed to travel abroad frequently for religious matters. He also informed the court that the accused’s wife was pregnant and expected to deliver their first child today.
"The accused is not a flight risk and works helping to manage his father’s chicken farm business, earning between RM3,000 and RM3,500 a month," said the lawyer, who appeared together with Varghese Onny, Tee Yuan Sheng and Tee Kar Weng.
Lawyer Datuk Dr Aswandi Mohamed Hashim, representing Yuvarajakumar, meanwhile applied for the bail to be reduced to RM5,000, saying it was his client’s first offence and that he needed to support his mother, who has asthma.
The court allowed Ang and Yuvarajakumar to be released on bail of RM15,000 and RM5,000 respectively, with one surety each, ordered them to report to the MACC office once a month and to not interfere with witnesses. Yuvarajakumar was also required to surrender his passport.
The court set Dec 3 for mention. – Bernama
