Civil servant, government retiree charged with graft involving RM780,000
Published on: Wednesday, May 24, 2023
By: Cynthia D Baga
Mat Salleh (left) leaving the courtroom with his counsel.
Kota Kinabalu: A government servant and a retiree were charged with accepting bribes and abetting in receiving the bribes involving a sum of RM780,000.Zulfikar Khomeini Asli, 44, and Mat Salleh @ Awang Sapong, 67, pleaded not guilty separately before Sessions Court Judge Jason Juga, after the charges were read out respectively on Tuesday.
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Each of them has 34 charges.
On the first to 34th count, Zulfikar who is currently an Auditor at the Rural Development Ministry, is accused of receiving the bribes which he allegedly received through cheques from Kilang Sawit Bell Sdn Bhd before the money was transferred into two companies’ accounts under the name Syarikat Lihot Construction belonging to Zulfikar’s mother and Syarikat Sri Atussin Enterprise belonging to his brother.
The charges stated that the bribes were given as inducement to Zulfikar who was at that time an auditor at Sabah State Finance Ministry, for not conducting surprise inspections on Kilang Sawit Bell Sdn Bhd regarding the falsification of the Sabah State Finance Ministry (Form 4) state sale tax statements for May 2014 until October 2015.
Zulfikar (left) with his counsel before the proceedings.
The offences allegedly took place between July 24 2014 and Nov 24 2015 at the Malayan Banking Berhad Sipitang branch.
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The offence under Section 17(a) of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 for accepting a bribe, which carries a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the bribe involved, or up to RM10,000, whichever is higher, on conviction.
Meanwhile, Mat Salleh, who was an administration assistant at the State Sales Tax Unit at that time, on the first to 34th counts, is accused of abetting Zulfikar to receive the bribes for the same purpose, place and time.
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The charges against Mat Salleh fall under Section 28(1)(c) of the same Act and read together with Section 17(a) of the same Act carries a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the bribe involved, or up to RM10,000, whichever is higher, on conviction.
The court set July 17 this year for pre-trial case management and released Zulfikar and Mat Salleh on bail of RM80,000 with RM20,000 deposited in two local sureties each.
Zulfikar and Mat Salleh were also ordered to report to MACC’s office once in two months as well as their passports, if any, to be surrendered to court pending the disposal of their cases.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurul Izzati Sapifee from MACC appeared for the prosecution while counsel Hamid Ismail defended Zulfikar and counsel Azhier Arisin for Mat Salleh.
For record, Zulfikar was early this year charged with 16 counts also of receiving bribes and he claimed trial to all the charges.
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