KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Businessman Datuk Ranjeet Singh Sidhu pleaded not guilty today at the Sessions Court here to a charge of offering an RM8 million bribe to the former president of a bank 14 years ago.

The 56-year-old is accused of providing a bribe to the former president and managing director of the bank through an intermediary, as an inducement to approve a RM400 million loan application by V Telecoms Berhad.

The loan was intended to finance the development of a coastal fibre optic network covering the entirety of Peninsular Malaysia.

The offence is alleged to have occurred at a bank on Jalan Sultan Ismail, here, on June 29, 2012. 

The charge was framed under Section 16(b)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 [Act 694], which provides for a prison term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

Ranjeet also faces a separate charge of fraudulently submitting false particulars in a Joint Completion Guarantee, to satisfy the conditions for the approval of the RM400 million loan for the same project, allegedly at the same location and time.

He is charged under Section 471 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both, upon conviction.

Earlier during the proceedings, deputy public prosecutor Farah Ezlin Yusop Khan offered bail of RM150,000 with one surety, along with additional conditions requiring the surrender of the accused’s passport and monthly reporting to the MACC headquarters until the disposal of the case. 

Ranjeet’s counsel, Datuk Gobinath Mohanna, requested a lower bail amount and informed the court that his client’s passport is currently held by the MACC.

Judge Rosli Ahmad granted bail of RM150,000 with one surety, imposing the additional conditions as requested by the prosecution, and fixed March 30 for the next case mention. — Bernama