KOTA KINABALU: A civil servant was slapped with 16 charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM45,000 over the past seven years at the Special Corruption Court here.
However, the accused, 44-year-old Zulfikar Khomeini Asli, pleaded not guilty after the charges were read by the court interpreter before Judge Jason Juga yesterday.
In the first to fifth charges, the accused, who was the head of the enforcement unit of the State Sales Tax Enforcement Unit under the Internal Audit Division at the Sabah Finance Ministry, had received a total of RM20,000 in bribes banked into his account by a manager of a palm oil mill on Sept 20, 2016.
He had also failed to report the “donation” to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
For the sixth to 10th charges, the accused is alleged to have received a bribe of RM10,000, also through a bank account transaction, from a palm oil company manager on Jan 2, 2017.
As for the 11th through 16th charges, the accused, who is currently working as an officer in the Sabah Rural Development Ministry, received RM15,000 from the palm oil company manager on Jan 3 and Jan 7, 2017.
He was charged under Section 25 (1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which can be punished under Section 25 (1) of the same Act.
If convicted, he can be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years, a fine not exceeding RM100,000, or both.
The court set a bail of RM25,000 and a deposit of RM10,000 with a local surety. In addition, the accused was required to report himself every two months at the Sabah MACC Office. He was also ordered to hand over his international passport to the court.
The court also set Feb 15, 2023, for case management.
