SANDAKAN: An illegal immigrant was jailed three months and fined RM10,000 or five months in jail for giving bribe of RM100 to a traffic policeman as an inducement to not take action against him for not having valid document and a driving licence.
Sessions Court Judge Jason Juga meted out the sentence to Madzrin Husain who pleaded guilty to the charge against him.
Madzrin gave the bribe to the traffic police at 11.10am on Feb 7 this year at a police hut, here.
The charge stated that Madzrin had bribed the policeman on patrol duty as inducement to not take action against him for not having valid document and driving licence.
The offence under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, provides for an imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of RM10,000 or not less than five times the amount of the bribe, whichever is higher, if found guilty.
During mitigation, Madzrin who was not represented, asked for a light sentence and that the jail sentence from the date of his arrest.
He promised not repeat a similar offence.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Franklin Ganggan Bennet from MACC, urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence as to give a lesson not only to Madzrin but public at large.
Madzrin was detained by the traffic police while he was riding his motorcycle and failed to produce his identification document and driving licence and offered to give a bribe to the policeman.
The court ordered the RM100 to be to be forfeited to the Government of Malaysia.
