KOTA BARU: Two Customs officers were today charged at the Sessions Court here on three counts of allegedly accepting bribes amounting to RM4,300 to release cargo trucks without inspection four years ago.
However, Mohd Faizul Mat Nasir and Mohamad Rasul Mohd Zukril pleaded not guilty before judge Ahmad Bazli Bahruddin.
Faizul, as a Grade WK19 customs assistant stationed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), was accused of receiving bribes totalling RM1,750 from Jehatis Jeeva who owned Syarikat Kalos Enterprise, as an inducement to not inspect the company's lorries carrying goods out of KLIA Cargo.
The 35-year-old was allegedly to have received the money via online transfer from Jehatis' account.
The father of three was alleged to have committed the offence at the Maybank Bhd branch in Jalan Mahmood, Kota Baru, on July 16, 2020.
He was charged under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which is punishable under Section 24(1) of the same act.
Meanwhile, Rasul, a Customs officer with the same grade and also attached to KLIA, was alleged to have received RM2,400 from Jehatis for the same purpose.
The 34-year-old was allegedly to have committed the offence at the same Maybank branch on Sept 8, 2020.
Rasul, the father of a 2-year-old, was also charged with receiving RM150 from the same company and same purpose at the same bank branch on Sept 13, 2020.
For the two offences, he was charged under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which is punishable under Section 24(1) of the same.
Under the act, both accused are liable to a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine five times the bribe amount upon conviction.
The prosecuting team for Faizul's case comprised deputy public prosecutors Mohd Afif Ali and Maziah Mohaide, while DPP Nurul Atiqah Mohamad Alias appeared for Rasul's case.
The two accused were represented by lawyer Adhwa' Afiqah Mohd Azmi.
Faizul was allowed RM7,000 bail with one surety while Rasul was granted bail at RM8,000 with one surety.
Bazli ordered both to report to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya once a month, to hand over their passports if they had not already and not to disturb the witnesses in the case.
He fixed July 21 for re-mention of the case.