KUALA TERENGGANU, Sept 23 — A former assistant director of SME Corp in Terengganu pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here today to four counts of gratification, amounting to RM29,700, for office cleaning work between 2015 and 2018.

Halimah Musa Brahim, 42, who is now SME Corp economic affairs assistant officer in Kuala Lumpur, made the plea before judge Jamaludin Mat.

For all the charges, Halimah was charged with using her then position for gratification from NDZ Creative Resources by supporting the company to do cleaning works at the SME Corp in Terengganu involving RM3,300; RM4,400; RM13,200; and RM8,800.

The offence was allegedly committed between October 1 and December 1, 2015 for the first count, second count (between January 12 and November 1, 2016), third count (between January 2 and December 3, 2017) and fourth count (between January 7 and August 12, 2018) at the Terengganu SME Corp office here.

The charges were made under Section 23 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2001 which provides an imprisonment for up to 20 years and fine a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the gratification, or RM10,000, whichever higher, upon conviction.

Jamaludin allowed Halimah bail of RM10,000 with one surety and also ordered the woman to report herself at the Kuala Lumpur MACC office every month.

The court set November 1 for mention.

Deputy public prosecutor from MACC Nor Hamizah Ghazali prosecuted, while Halimah was represented by lawyer Mohd. Fadhly Yaacob. — Bernama