Senior corporate officers charged with falsifying invoices, claims

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) brought two cases of corruption against senior corporate officers to the Sessions Court yesterday, while stating it was actively pursuing a third suspect.

Separately, Pelangi Shipping Sdn Bhd finance manager Mazrulhisham Zulkifli was charged with falsifying invoices totalling RM3.785 million, and Petronas ICT Sdn Bhd management service head Syed Hamid Khalid Rasid was charged with making false claims for RM98,000.

The MACC said it was looking for a female manager who allegedly made hundreds of thousands of ringgit in false claims to a government-linked company.

In court, representing the MACC, prosecutor Atifah Yusof claimed that Mazrulhisham, 36, had presented four false invoices to a Tenaga Nasional Berhad logistic executive, Al-Mohafan Mohamed, in Bangsar for Customs duty payments amounting to RM3.785 million between Jan 19 and July 30, 2004, in contravention of Section 11 (c) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

Atifah asked for bail to be set at RM60,000, while Marzulhisham’s counsel, Kamaruddin Abdullah, appealed to the court for bail to be lowered to RM7,500 per charge because Mazrulhisham had cooperated with MACC and was present when needed for investigation.

Sessions  judge Tuan Mohd Nasir Nordin set bail at RM40,000 and fixed December 8 for mention.

Syed Hamid faced three charges under Section 18 of the Anti-Corruption Act 2009 for falsifying claims on course work training programmes amounting up to RM98,000 between December 31, 2012, and September 9, 2013.

Syed Hamid, who was also working as an agent for iPerintis Sdn Bhd, was accused of having filed claims with three different companies for training courses that never took place.

Atifah proposed that bail be set at RM45,000.

Syed Hamid’s counsel, M. Mahendra, appealed to judge Rosbiahanin Arifin for a lower bail, saying that the accused’s wife and four children, aged eight and below, solely depended on him for income.

Rosbiahanin set bail at RM30,000 and fixed December 11 for mention.

Both defendants face the possibility of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of five times the value of the sums involved.