IPOH, Sept 10 — Perak State Sports Council (MSN) assistant director today pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here to two charges of receiving bribe amounting RM1,560 three years ago, when he was appointed as the Selama District Council’s secretary.

Mohd Shah Nizam Abdul Aziz, 35, made the plea in front of Judge S. Indra Nehru after the charges were read.

For the first charge, he was accused of committing the offence by using his position as the district council secretary to obtain a bribe amounting to RM1,030 when appointing NMS Usaha Enterprise for the supply of soap and bleach to Selama District Council’s rest house through the Government Payment Voucher number A000508 / 2017, where the matter was of his interest as the owner of the company was his sister-in-law.

Similarly, Mohd Shah was accused of committing the offence again by obtaining RM530 from the same company for the same purpose through the Government Payment Voucher number A000854 / 2017.

Advertisement

He was accused of committing both offences on June 9 and September 28, 2017 respectively at the Selama District Council office.

The charges were framed under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and can be punished under Section 24(1) of the same Act.

If convicted, the accused can be jailed for up to 20 years and a fine of up to five times the sum or value of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

Advertisement

MACC’s Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Wahida Jalaluddin appeared for the prosecution while lawyer Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi represented Mohd Shah.

Earlier, Nurul requested the court to fix bail at RM20,000 for both charges.

“We hope the court will also order the accused to report to the nearest MACC office once a month,” she said.

Amir Khusyairi, however, asked the court to lower the bail to RM8,000 for both the charges by submitting that his client has six dependents, including his parents, wife, and three children aged between eight and four.

“My client’s net income per month is merely about RM2,000 at the moment and he has to take care of six people.

“I hope the court will lower the bail and my client has no problem to adhere to the additional condition set by MACC,” he said.

Judge Indira then set bail at RM14,000 for both charges with one surety and ordered the accused to report the nearest MACC office once a month until the case is settled.

The case has been fixed for October 21 for mention.