KOTA KINABALU: A former civil servant was found guilty at the Sessions Court here on two counts of abusing his power in the awarding of road maintenance projects to a company belonging to his sister.
Sessions Court judge Abu Bakar Manat sentenced Herwan Malik, 37, to 12 months in jail and also slapped a RM20,000 fine on the former civil engineer assistant, in default six months’ jail.
Among others, the court had ruled that the prosecution had managed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt while the defence failed to raise reasonable doubts on all the charges.
The accused, however, managed to stay the sentence after successfully obtaining a stay of execution pending an appeal to the High Court.
The court had earlier imposed a 12-month imprisonment on Herwan and fined him RM10,000 in default three months’ jail for each charge.
The custodial sentence was to be run concurrently, the court had ordered.
According to the charge sheet, the accused, had between 8am and 5pm on Feb 28, 2013 abused his position as a committee member of the Kota Marudu district office in deciding the project price quotation to pick a company belonging to his sister to carry out a road maintenance project along Jalan Pertanian in Kampung Sungai Laut, Kota Marudu.
The offence was said to have taken place at the Kota Marudu district office.
For the second charge, the accused has allegedly committed the same offence by awarding another road maintenance project in Kampung Pendawar, also in Kota Marudu, to the same company.
This offence allegedly took place at the same place at 3pm on April 30 the following year.
Both charges were framed under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and were punishable under Section 24 of the same Act.
It provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years, and a fine of not less than five times the amount involved or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
Deputy public prosecutor Haresh Prakash Somiah conducted the trial on behalf of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) while Herwan was represented by counsel Shahlan Jufri.
The prosecution had called 13 witnesses to testify during the trial period while the accused was the sole witness during his defence.
