A FORMER-bank sales manager was fined RM210,000 by the Sessions Court in Melaka on Monday after pleading guilty to 20 alternative charges of receiving bribes totalling RM211,636 over a four-year period.
Mohamad Faqih Mustapha, 37, entered his guilty plea after the charges were read out by the court interpreter before Judge Elesabet Paya Wan.
The court heard that Mohamad Faqih had received bribe payments ranging from RM880 to RM16,723 through 19 transactions credited into his sister’s bank account and one transaction into his own account.
The payments were made between May 2018 and September 2022 as inducements for assisting several law firms to secure housing loan case referrals with a bank, where he was employed as a sales manager at the time.
He was further charged with failing, without reasonable excuse, to report the receipt of the bribes to officers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission or the police, as required under Section 25(1) of the MACC Act 2009.
The offences were committed at a bank located at Graha Peladang, Jalan Hang Tuah, during the period stated, and were prosecuted under Section 25(2) of the same Act, which carries a penalty of a fine not exceeding RM100,000, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both.
Defence counsel Azrul Zulkifli Stork appealed for the minimum fine to be imposed for each alternative charge, citing that it was Mohamad Faqih’s first offence, that he had shown remorse, and that he was currently without permanent employment.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharina Farhana Nor Sa’ari urged the court to impose a sentence commensurate with the seriousness of the offence.
The court subsequently ordered Mohamad Faqih to pay a total fine of RM210,000, in default of which he would face imprisonment of between two and four months for each charge.
He paid the fine.
The court also ordered that the accused’s bail sum of RM87,000 be refunded. - February 2, 2026
