KUANTAN: A Vietnamese owner of a fishing boat company claimed trial at the Sessions court here today to offering an RM800,000 bribe to Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) officers five days ago.
Tran Thi Mai, 41, had allegedly offered the kickback to a middleman, who would hand over the cash to two MMEA officers, Captain Nurul Hizam Zakaria and Captain Amran Daud, as inducement to release nine Vietnamese fishing boats seized by the agency under Sections 8 (a), 11 (3) (a) and 15 (1) (a) of the Fisheries Act 1985.
The mother-of-four, reported to be a 'Datuk', allegedly committed the offence at a hotel coffee house at 9.40am on Nov 5.
She faced a maximum jail term of 20 years, and a fine five times the graft money, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
Judge Dazuki Ali allowed RM100,000 bail with two Malaysian sureties, and ordered her to surrender her passport to the court.
He ordered Tran to report to the Kuantan police station every month until the case is over.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Fadhly Mohd Zamry prosecuted, while the accused was represented by counsel G.K. Sritharan.
Earlier, Fadhly appealed to the court to deny bail on the grounds that Tran was not a Malaysian citizen, and that since she owned a company which handles fishermen’s boats, she might flee the country via sea.
He suggested that if the court wished to grant the bail, the amount should be at RM1 million.
Sritharan however argued for lower bail, saying that his client would not abscond as she is a participant of the 'Malaysia My Second Home' programme and has been living in the country for the past 17 years.
"The statement (by the prosecution) that she would abscond the country without offering any proof is merely presumption and after living here for such a long time, there is no evidence to show that she would flee the country." he said.
He added that a lower bail and other additional conditions would be sufficient to ensure she attends proceedings.
Dazuki later set Dec 11 for mention.