Ex-Putatan Council chief gets 14 years, RM255k fine
Published on: Saturday, May 04, 2024
By: Cynthia D Baga
Awang (left) with his counsel Zahir (right) leaving the court.
Kota Kinabalu: A 48-year-old former Putatan District Council (MDP) executive officer was jailed 14 years and fined RM255,000 for 14 counts of accepting bribes amounting to RM50,500 in 2017 and 2018.
Sessions Court Judge Jason Juga meted out the sentence to Awang Saifudin Jumat after ruling that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
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Awang was found guilty of the 14 charges against him on Friday.
On the first count, Awang was fined RM10,000 in default three months’ jail for receiving bribe of RM1,500 from Zaiton Abdul Hamid through his bank account as an inducement to provide repair works, supplies and services at MDP to Zaiton from 2016 until 2018.
The offence took place on Nov 15, 2017 at Maybank Putatan.
On the second and third count, he was fined RM10,000 or three months’ jail for each charge of receiving bribes of RM2,000 on Nov 21 and another RM2,000 on Dec 2, 2017 from Zaiton for the same purpose and at the same place.
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On the fourth to ninth count, Awang was fined RM15,000 or three months jail each for accepting bribes of RM3,000 for each of the charge from Zaiton for the same purpose between Jan 7 and Feb 21, 2018, also in Maybank Putatan.
On the 10th count, he was fined RM12,500 in default three months’ jail for receiving RM2,500 from Zaiton for the same purpose on Feb 26, 2018 at the same place.
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On the 11th count, he was fined RM37,500 for accepting RM7,500 from Zaiton for the same purpose on Feb 1, 2018 at the same place.
On the 12th and 13th count, Awang was fined RM20,000 and RM15,000 for receiving bribes of RM4,000 and RM3,000 from Zaiton for the same purpose on Feb 7 and 9, 2018 at the same place.
On the 14th count, he was fined RM50,000 for receiving another bribe of RM10,000 from Zaiton for the same purpose on Feb 11, 2018 at the same place.
The court ordered the jail sentences to be run concurrently.
Awang’s application for stay of execution of the sentence was allowed pending appeal to the High Court.
He was convicted under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act which 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.
Eighteen prosecution and three defence witnesses were called during the hearing.
MACC Prosecuting Officer Rekhraj Singh conducted the prosecution while counsel Zahir Shah defended Awang.
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