MIRI: Five businessmen separately claimed trial at the Miri Sessions Special Court (Corruption) here yesterday to offering bribes to immigration officers.
Four of them, Zubair Muhamad Fazal Mahmood, 25, Hayat Ullah Said Afzal Khan,37, Asghar Khan, 35, and Asghar Ali Hanif-Ur-Rahman,40, are Pakistanis while Abdullah Mohd Ali, 55, is Malaysian.
Zubair is accused of offering RM500 to an immigration officer as an inducement to refrain from taking action against him for allegedly employing an Indonesian worker who had abused his social visit pass.
He allegedly committed the offence at Kedai Perabot Wakil Khan Sdn Bhd, Jalan Batu Niah on 24 Nov, 2015 at 4.30pm.
Hayat is accused of offering RM200 to an immigration officer as an inducement not to take action against one of his children who allegedly did not have a valid passport.
He allegedly committed the offence at Hayatullah Trading Sdn Bhd Batu Niah Bazaar on 24 Nov, 2015 at 4.51pm.
Asghar Khan is accused of offering RM100 to an immigration officer as an inducement to refrain from taking action against him for allegedly employing a worker who did not have a valid work permit.
He allegedly committed the offence at Bonanza Digital Sdn Bhd, Lambir district on 28 April, 2016 at 11am.
Abdullah is accused of offering RM500 to an immigration officer as an inducement not to take action against him for allegedly employing a foreign worker without valid passport and work permit.
He allegedly committed the offence at Aneka Carpet Sdn Bhd, Permymall on 28 April, 2016 at 5.45pm.
Asghar Ali is accused of offering RM300 to an immigration officer as an inducement to refrain from taking action against him for allegedly employing foreign workers without valid passport and work permit.
He allegedly committed the offence at Azhar Furniture Jalan Miri-Bintulu on 27 April, 2016 at 4pm.
If found guilty, each of them may face a jail term of not more than 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the gratification.
The charge is under Section 17 (b) of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (ACT 694), punishable under Section 24 (1) of the same Act.
Judge Nixon Kennedy Kumbong set RM6,000 as bail with one local surety for each accused and ordered them to report to MACC Miri office every Friday pending disposal of the case. He also fixed 30 March for case re-mention.
All five were represented by counsel Ranbhir Singh Sangha while deputy public prosecutor Jamal Ayub,Ikhwan Mohd Ibrahim and Katherine Nais appeared for the prosecution.
