SHAH ALAM: A sales executive has pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here today to two counts of selling a bachelor's degree last year.
The accused, C. Vijayakumar, 34, made the plea after the charge was read to him by a court interpreter before Judge Hakim Mohd Sabri Ismail.
For the first charge, the accused was charged with requesting a RM12,500 bribe from Mohd Izham Mohd Hashim, 38, in exchange for a bachelor's degree from the Multimedia University.
For the second charge, the accused, who is not an employee at the university, was charged with receiving a RM1,500 bribe from Izham for the same purpose.
Both offences were allegedly committed in the vicinity of Bangi and Cyberjaya on Jan 25 and April 6 respectively last year.
The accused was charged under Section 16 (a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption (MACC) Act 2009, which provides a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the sum of the gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
MACC deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir made a request for bail to be set at RM20,000 and for the accused to surrender his passport to the court.
Lawyer Badrul Munir Mohd Bukhari, who represented the accused, requested for a lower bail saying his client needed to care for his parents, wife, and seven-year-old child.
"Also, my client, who only earns RM3,000 a month, gave his full cooperation to the MACC since his arrest in April last year," he said.
The judge later set bail at RM15,000 with one surety and ordered the accused to surrender his passport to the court.
The court has set Feb 20 to re-mention the case.