KUALA LUMPUR: A self-employed man was fined RM20,000 in default of 10 months' jail by the Sessions Court yesterday (Tuesday) after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of offering RM3,000 bribe last year.
Lim Chong Yee pleaded guilty to the alternative charge before judge Datuk Anita Harun at the Shah Alam Sessions Court in Shah Alam near here.
According to the fact of the case, Lim had offered RM3,000 bribe to a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency officer as an inducement not to take action against him for smuggling contraband cigarettes into the country, which is an offence under Section 135(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1967.
He was accused of committing the offence at a restaurant in Bukit Tinggi on Sept 25 last year.
The offence falls under Section 214 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of 10 years, or a fine or both, if convicted.
The original charge was made under Section 17(b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009.
Deputy public prosecutor Muaz Ahmad Khairuddin prosecuted while Lim was unrepresented.