JOHOR BARU: A 30-year-old Bangladeshi man has pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here for bribing an Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP) assistant enforcement officer with RM1,000 in February.
The accused, Shahin Alam, who worked at a sundry store, made the plea after the charge was read to him in front of Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Arifin Ismail here on Monday (June 19).
According to the charge sheet, the accused allegedly offered a bribe of RM1,000 to the officer as inducement not to take action against the sundry store where he worked for violating their business licence.
The act was allegedly committed at the store located on Jalan SILC, Nusa Jaya Square, Iskandar Puteri, at 6pm on Feb 15, 2023, an offence under Section 17(b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act.
It carries a fine of five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, whichever is higher, and a maximum jail term of 20 years.
The case was prosecuted by MACC prosecution officers Ikhwan Ihsan Jalaludin and Rais Adha Ramli, while the accused was represented by R. Jegathisvaran.
During proceedings, Ikhwan Ihsan requested bail to be set at RM20,000 with two sureties and for the accused to report to the Johor Baru MACC office once a month.
Jegathisvaran, in mitigation, requested a lower bail as the accused was only making around RM1,500 a month.
"He is also has another job as a construction worker and sends RM1,000 monthly to his wife and children back in Bangladesh," he said.
The court then set bail at RM10,000 with one surety and for the accused to report to the Johor Baru MACC office monthly.
The court also asked the defence counsel to provide a Bangladeshi language interpreter and set July 20 for the case re-mention.
The accused posted bail.
