Kota Kinabalu: Five civil servants claimed trial to making false claims amounting to RM61,500 on transfer costs to various districts.
They are Rozidah Samudin, 52, Myron Masing, 40, Alif Abdul Fatah, 35, Mohd Effendi Awang Damit, 31, and Ady Said, 38.
All of them pleaded not guilty separately before Sessions Court Judge Jason Juga, on Tuesday.
They are attached to Sabah Town and Regional Planning Department (JPBW).
Rozidah faced two charges while the four men have one charge each for submitting false claims.
Ady also faced another five charges for abetting with Rozidah, Myron, Alif and Mohd Effendi.
For Rozidah, she is accused of submitting a transport company’s receipts for the delivery of household goods and vehicles related to her official duty but actually the service was never provided.
She allegedly committed the offence at JPBW here on Oct 2, 2017 worth RM17,100, and on Sept 5, 2019 worth RM17, 000.
Meanwhile, Myron and Mohd Effendi are accused of committing a similar offence on Sept 8, 2020 involving RM6,250.
For Alif, he is accused of committing the offence on Aug 23, 2019 involving RM8,480.
In Ady’s case, the first charge stated that he allegedly made the same offence involving RM6,450 on Sept 8, 2020.
For the second to sixth charges, Ady is accused of abetting Rozidah, Myron, Alif, and Mohd Effendi in making their respective false claims between 2017 and 2020.
The charges, under Section 28(1)(c) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act, are read with Section 18 of the same Act.
The court fixed Aug 15 for mention of all the cases.
Each accused is also granted bail between RM10,000 and RM15,000 with a deposit between RM3,000 and RM4,000 under a local surety.
The court also ordered them to report to the MACC office once every two months.
Their respective passports were ordered to be surrendered to the court and they were instructed not to harass any prosecution witnesses pending the disposal of the case.
Prosecuting officers Dzulkarnain Rousan Hasbi and Rekhraj Singh appeared for the prosecution while Rozidah was represented by counsel Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi Md Zain, Alif was represented by counsels Yannik Mohd Anuar and Lim Chun Yuan.
