KUALA TERENGGANU: A senior quantity surveyor from Universiti Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) was fined RM12,500 by the Sessions Court, here, after pleading guilty to five counts of receiving bribes in exchange for expediting a company's interim payment claims, in 2019 and 2020.
Judge Mohd Azhar Othman imposed the fine on 52-year-old Malike Mohamed after he admitted all five charges. The court also ordered Malike to serve two months in prison for each charge if he fails to pay the fine.
According to the charges, the father of three was accused of accepting RM6,500 from Azman Yusof, the owner of AMZ Sepakat Sdn Bhd, to facilitate the company's interim payment claims to UniSZA, at Bank Islam, between June 2019 and January 2020.
Malike was charged under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, a fine, or both.
In February, Malike initially pleaded not guilty to eight counts of accepting bribes, totalling RM14,500, from Azman, who is also his friend. These charges were framed under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, along with an additional charge under Section 165 of the Penal Code, for receiving a Yamaha Y15ZR motorcycle from the same individual.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Tengku Nurul Haziqah Tuan Yacob presented eight charges under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act against Malike. However, the accused only pleaded guilty to five of these charges.
Tengku Nurul Haziqah noted that, while the guilty plea had expedited the court process, it was crucial to impose a fitting punishment to serve as a lesson, and a deterrent to the community.
"I am seeking an appropriate penalty, and request that the seized Yamaha Y15ZR motorcycle be forfeited to the government. I also ask that the court consider the remaining unadmitted charges under Section 171A of the Criminal Procedure Code," she said.
Malike's lawyer, Ahmad 'Adha 'Amir Yasser Amri, appealed for a reduced fine, citing that his client had no prior criminal record since joining UniSZA in 2008. He also requested the return of Malike's passport.
The court imposed a RM2,500 fine for each count and ordered that the Yamaha Y15ZR motorcycle be forfeited to the government. Additionally, the court granted the return of Malike's passport and bail. – BERNAMA