JOHOR BARU: A furniture company managing director has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of soliciting and receiving bribes amounting to RM12.8mil linked to the Jana Wibawa programme.
Datuk Teo Wee Cheng made the plea after the charges were read to him in Mandarin before Sessions Court judge Ahmad Kamal Arifin Ismail yesterday.
The 65-year-old claimed trial to two charges of soliciting RM11.3mil in bribes and seven charges of receiving RM1.5mil in bribes.
According to the charge sheets, the accused is said to have solicited a bribe worth RM3.9mil in July 2021, which is 10% of the RM39.7mil road project in Jalan Sawah Baru (J160) under Jana Wibawa as an inducement for helping Muar Usaha Bakti Sdn Bhd get the project.
Teo allegedly requested a bribe worth RM7.4mil between May and June 2022, which is 10% of the RM74mil road project from Kampung Belukar Durian to Felda Waha, Kota Tinggi, also under Jana Wibawa, as an inducement for him to agree to appoint TS Dynamic Construction Sdn Bhd as the subcontractor for the project.
Both offences were allegedly committed at the Trimetro Development Sdn Bhd office in Jalan Majidi, Muar.
As for the charges of accepting bribes, Teo allegedly received RM300,000 between August 2021 and November 2022 as an inducement for helping Muar Usaha Bakti get the Jalan Sawah Baru project.He is also said to have received RM1.2mil between June and October 2022 as an inducement for agreeing to appoint TS Dynamic Construction as the subcontractor for the road project from Kampung Belukar Durian to Felda Waha.
The offences were allegedly committed at SSH Furniture Sdn Bhd in the Pagoh industrial area.
The charges were framed under Section 16a(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act.
If convicted, he faces a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
The case was prosecuted by MACC legislation and prosecution section deputy director II Ahmad Akram Gharib and deputy public prosecutor Chan Choon Yew, while Teo was represented by lawyer Cains Tan.
Ahmad Akram informed the court that the prosecution and the defence had agreed that bail be set at RM500,000 along with an additional condition for the accused to surrender his passport.
The court then granted bail under the agreed amount in one surety and fixed May 17 for next mention.
Jana Wibawa was set up in November 2020 to empower bumiputra contractors struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bumiputra contractors rated three to five stars were given contracts through direct negotiation under the programme.
