Penalty for corruption should be more severe

ANTI-CORRUPTION campaigners were startled by the decision of the Sessions Court in Butterworth last month to sentence a senior federal counsel to jail for one day and fine of RM130,000 after he pleaded guilty to three charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM700,000 last year.

They would have been quick to point out that in contrast, more severe sentences have been meted out in cases of petty theft, such as on a labourer in Terengganu who was jailed 15 months for stealing petai, and on an unemployed man who was sentenced to 10 months’ jail for stealing RM50 from a fund belonging to a mosque.