Kota Kinabalu: A police sergeant was charged with receiving a bribe of RM1,800 from a man as a reward for not taking action against the man over drug-related offence.
Zakaria Mohd Jasni, 40, pleaded not guilty before Sessions Judge Jason Juga, to the charge against him on Tuesday.
Zakaria is accused of accepting the bribe from one Peter Chang Nyuk Ming, in which the money was banked into an account bank belonged to one Nidi Anak Semilan and the bribe was as an inducement to not take action against Chang who was allegedly involved in drug-related offence.
The offence allegedly took place at June 18, 2021, at the Maybank Putatan Branch.
The offence, under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, is punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, which carries a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of bribe, or up to RM10,000, whichever is higher, on conviction.
The court released Zakaria on bail of RM10,000, with RM3,000 deposited in a local surety and was also ordered to report to MACC’s office every two months and to have his passport impounded by the court.
The court also granted the prosecution’s application for the case to be joint trial with Zakaria’s previous charge and fixed Feb 12 this year for mention the cases.
Previously, Zakaria claimed trial to receiving a bribe of RM2,000 from the same person for same purpose on the same day at the Fook Soon Seafood Product Sdn Bhd, Kudat.
MACC’s Prosecuting Officer, Norsham Saharom, appeared for the prosecution, while Zakaria was represented by counsel Luke Ressa Balang.
