KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — Two Wisma Putra (Foreign Ministry) officers were today charged in the Sessions Court here with deceiving the Malaysian ambassador to the United States involving a sum of US$126,681 three years ago.

Shahril Effendi Abd Ghany, 48, and Mohd Hadtamizi Abu Bakar, 47, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read out to them before judge Rosbiahanin Arifin.

Shahril Effendi, who was at the time serving as the deputy chief of mission at the Malaysian embassy in Washington DC, was charged with deceiving the ambassador into believing that the false documents, which were the expenditure statement on the advance money in conjunction with the APEC Summit 2011 in Honolulu, Hawaii from November 3 to 16, 2011 and the official receipt from Aloha Way Transportation dated November 3, 2011 for US$126,681 were authentic.

Based on the false documents, the accused had claimed and confirmed paying US$126,681 as deposit for vehicle rental to Aloha Way Transportation during the summit while the actual amount paid was US$88,500.

Shahril Effendi was charged with committing the offence at the Malaysian embassy, 3516 International Court N.W., Washington DC, United States on December 8, 2011.

Mohd Hadtamizi, who was servingg as an assistant administrative officer, was charged with abetting Shahril Effendi in committing the offence at the same place and time.

The two accused were charged under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commssion (MACC) Act 2009 and face a jail sentence of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the sum involved under Section 24(2) of the same Act, upon conviction.

Rosbiahanin allowed each of the accused bail of RM30,000 in one surety and ordered the two to surrender their passports to the court which fixed February 10 for case remention.

DPP Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah appeared for the prosecution, while Shahril Effendi was represented by counsel Shamsul Sulaiman and Mohd Hadtamizi by counsel Ridha Abdah Subri.

In the same court, a forest encroacher pleaded not guilty to offering a bribe of RM20,000 to an assistant land officer at the Cameron Highlands District and Land Office, Pahang last year.

Tan Meng Lee, 43, was charged with offering the bribe to Abdul Rahim Sulaiman, 50, as inducement not to take action against him (accused) for illegally clearing land at the Sungai Terla Forest Reserve in Kampung Raja and the government land at Blue Valley, both located in the Ulu Telom sub-district, Cameron Highlands.

He is alleged to have committed the offence at MM Cafe, Hotel Grand Millennium, Bukit Bintang, here, at 9.15pm on October 8, 2013.

Tan was charged under Section 17(b) of the MACC Act and faces a jail 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, if convicted.

Judge Rosbiahanin allowed Tan bail of RM10,000 in one surety and fixed February 7 for remention of the case.

DPP Farah Yasmin Salleh appeared for the prosecution while the accused was represented by counsel S. Devanandan. — Bernama