SEREMBAN – A food trader was fined RM100,000 by the sessions court here for offering a RM200,000 bribe to policemen as an inducement to not take action against five of his friends who were arrested in a raid last year.
Judge Rushan Lutfi Mohamed passed the sentence on the accused, Mohd Zaed Asan, 34, after he pleaded guilty when the charges were read to him.
The court also ordered the accused to be jailed for 24 months if he failed to pay the fine, which the accused paid shortly.
According to the charge sheet, Zaed and a person who is still at large, offered a bribe of RM200,000 in cash to Mohamad Taufiq Sudiman on November 14, 2021, at about 1.20am, in a Volkswagen Passat near Nilai Square commercial centre.
The purpose of the bribe was to evade legal action on five persons detained in a raid by Nilai police on November 13, 2021 at a residence in Nilai for investment fraud.
The offence was framed under Section 214 of the Penal Code (Act 574) read together with Section 34 of the same act.
The charge was filed by Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) while the accused was represented by lawyer Kamal Adha Mohd Harozi.
Wan Shaharuddin praised three policemen for their integrity in rejecting the huge bribe.
The court also ordered the RM200,000 bribe to be forfeited through the MACC chief commissioner to the Malaysian government. – Bernama, June 30, 2022
