JOHOR BARU: A former senior engineer at the Kulai Public Works Department (PWD) was charged at the sessions court here today with accepting a RM25,000 bribe three years ago.
However, Azizan Mohamed Yassin, 39, pleaded not guilty to the charge after it was read by the court interpreter in front of Judge Kamarudin Kamsun.
He was accused of receiving the bribe through a bank account belonging to a family member from one ‘Abu Bakar A Aziz’ as an inducement for the awarding of a contract to upgrade the slope and roofed parking lot of the Kulai PWD building.
Azizan was accused of committing the offence at a Maybank branch in Taman Universiti, Skudai, at 4.03pm on Oct 23, 2015.
He was charged under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which carries a jail sentence of up to 20 years, and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
Johor MACC Deputy Public Prosecutor Khazrin Hafiz Khalil appeared for the prosecution, while the accused was represented by counsel Azi Azlin Zulkifli.
The accused arrived in court with his wife and youngest child.
Earlier, the prosecution asked for bail to be set at RM30,000 and for the accused to surrender his passport to the court.
However, Azi Azlin objected to the high bail, saying that a bond is not a punishment and asked for the bail to be set at RM10,000 with one surety.
Kamarudin then set the bail at RM10,000 with one surety, and set May 22 for re-mention of the case.
In June last year, Azizan was also charged with using his position to solicit and receive a bribe amounting to RM19,750 as an inducement to award a contract three years prior.