Graft: Civil servant gets one year, RM10,000 fine
Published on: Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: A 29-year-old civil servant, who was freed from a bribery charge, was on Tuesday ordered to serve his sentence of a year's jail and pay a fine of RM10,000 or six months' jail by the Court of Appeal here.Justices Dato' Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid, Dato' Abdul Rahman Sebli and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal unanimously allowed the prosecution's appeal against the High Court's decision to dismiss Chong Tian Tsair's conviction and sentence imposed by the lower court.The appellate court set aside the High Court's order and restored the Sessions Court's order which was to take effect the same day.
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Chong, who was a Road Transport Department assistant enforcement officer in Tawau, was on Aug 12, 2014 ordered by the Sessions Court to pay a fine of RM10,000 or six months' jail and jailed one year after he was found guilty of corruptly receiving RM300 at his office in Tawau on Jan 25, 2011 from a man as an inducement to settle his summons case for misusing his motor vehicle licence.The High Court in Tawau on Dec 17, 2014 set aside Chong's conviction and sentence following his appeal against the Sessions Court's decision.Chong managed to obtain a stay of execution from the Sessions Court and High Court, respectively, pending his appeal.The offence under Section 17 (a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission 2009 is punishable under Section 24 of the same Act which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, upon conviction.
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Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanipah appeared for the appellant while Chong was defended by counsel Zahir Shah.Meanwhile, the appeal by a 25-year-old Filipino who was sentenced to death for the murder of a 17-year-old boy will be heard on July 19.
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The court set the date for Arger Ambali following an adjournment application by his counsel Ram Singh, who informed the court that he has yet to be appointed to represent Arger in his appeal.Ram said he was the assigned counsel for Arger at the High Court and had filed a petition of appeal when the appeal record was served on him.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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