KUALA LUMPUR: A former director of a meat importing company pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here on Thursday (July 25) to five charges of submitting false claims for a financing facility to purchase merchandise amounting to nearly RM1mil five years ago.
Shamsuri Mohd Yusof, 52, was charged as a director of ZS Armin Sdn Bhd for colluding with the company's account executive, Mohd Sazali Zainal, to provide false documents, namely five invoices from Smart FV Marketing Sdn Bhd totalling RM998,600.
The documents were used to claim the Trade Working Capital Financing-i financing facility for the purchase of merchandise from Smart FV to the agent of Agrobank Berhad, even though no purchase was made from the company involved.
The offence was allegedly committed at Menara Agrobank, Leboh Pasar Besar here, on Sept 12, 2019, under Section 28 (1)(c) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, read together with Section 18 of MACC Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24 (2) of the same act.
The section provides for a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount or value of the bribe, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
The father of six also pleaded not guilty to five charges of abetting Mohd Sazali using false documents, namely five Smart FV company invoices totalling RM998,600 for the Trade Working Capital Financing-i financing facility claim from Agrobank Berhad.
The offence was allegedly committed on the same date and location, under Section 109 of the Penal Code, read with Section 471 of the Penal Code and is punishable under Section 465 of the same act, which faces two years imprisonment or a fine or both, if convicted.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Feisal Mohd Azmi asked for bail of RM200,000 with one surety and additional conditions: the accused must report to the MACC office in Putrajaya once a month and surrender his passport to the court until the case is completed.
Lawyer Zharif Nizamuddin represented the accused and applied for RM20,000 bail on the grounds that Shamsuri, who currently runs a chicken business, supports his wife, six children and mother, who has diabetes.
Zharif also objected to the passport being handed over to the court because his client was not a flight risk.
Judge Azura Alwi set the case to be mentioned again on Oct 15, allowed the accused to be bailed at RM80,000 with one surety and ordered the passport to be handed over to the court until the case was over. – Bernama
