KUALA LUMPUR: An immigration officer was charged today with 17 counts of receiving RM21,500 in bribes from a woman to free foreign nationals who had committed immigration-related offences.
He was accused of allowing the foreigners to exit the country through the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) without taking legal action against them.
Mohd Al-Ridhuan Ahmad Zaini, 35, however, pleaded not guilty after all the charges were read out against him before Judge Rozina Ayob.
According to the charges, the man allegedly accepted bribes amounting to RM21,500 from one Nur Amanina Maulad Adnan, via Maybank and CIMB accounts, into Muamalat Bank account belonging to Syarikat Entiti Maju Enterprise owned by the accused’s wife Nurul Natasha Andrew.
The bribe was purportedly obtained for himself as a grade KP19 officer in exchange for allowing the foreigners who had committed offences under the Immigration Act 1959/1963 (Act 155) to leave Malaysia through KLIA2 without taking legal action.
All the offences were allegedly committed at Jalan Tasik Utama 7, Medan Niaga Tasik Damai here between July 25 and Nov 11.
The charges framed under Section 16 (a) (A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 (Act 694) and punishable under Section 24 (1) of the same act carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of five times the value of the offence committed or RM10, 000, or whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin sought RM80,000 bail with one surety and with additional conditions that the accused should surrender his passport to the court and should not interfere with witnesses in the case.
“This is a serious offence and the manner in which the accused committed the offences is the way of a traitor to the country,” he said.
Lawyer Harcharanjit Singh, who represented the accused, pleaded for the bail amount to be reduced to RM20,000 on the grounds that his client had three young children, between the ages of two and seven, and that his client had fully cooperated throughout the investigation.
Rozina set bail at RM30,000 with one surety for all charges along with additional conditions that the accused must report once a month to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya, to hand over his passport to the court and prohibited the accused from going near or disturbing any of the witnesses until the case is disposed of.
The court set Jan 12 next year for mention.
On Nov 28, the media reported that 65 people comprising 39 Immigration officers, 17 agents and nine civilians were detained in ‘Ops Selat’.
The operation was launched by MACC in collaboration with the Immigration department to eradicate corrupt syndicates misusing entry and exit stamps to allow illegal immigrants to cross the country’s borders. – Bernama
