Three Alor Gajah council personnel claim trial to graft charges

MELAKA: Three Alor Gajah Municipal Council (MPAG) workers claimed trial at the Ayer Keroh Sessions Court here to accepting bribes from an advertising contractor as inducements to secure supply works tendered by the local council.

Patrick Tan Peng Sin, 34, Mohd Rozaiman Rahmat, 45, and Suhana Surin, 43, entered pleas of not guilty before judge Elesabet Paya Wan on Thursday (July 11).

Tan, a customer service officer, faces two charges of allegedly receiving cash bribes amounting to RM2,000 between Jan 1 and 14 last year, and RM2,500 between Feb 1 and 10 last year.

Rozaiman, an administrative officer in MPAG’s enforcement unit, faces three charges of accepting cash bribes totalling RM400, RM2,000 and RM500 between March 20 and 31, 2022, Sept 1 and 7, 2022, and April 10 and 18 last year.

Suhana, a clerical assistant at MPAG’s corporate and community service department, is facing four counts of receiving bribes, also in the form of cash, amounting to RM800, RM600, RM200, and RM300 between April 10, 2022 and April 18 last year.

They had allegedly accepted the bribes from Ong Ah Siong, 60, the manager of Prisma Advertising Center here.

The charges were framed under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of imprisonment of up to two years or a fine or both upon conviction.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) DPP Mohammad Azriff Firdaus Mohamad Ali proposed bail of RM5,000 for each accused, with additional conditions that they report monthly to the MACC office in Alai here and surrender their passports to the court.

Suhana was represented by Muhammad Denial Khairul Hizam while the other two were unrepresented.

The court then set bail at RM4,000 with one surety for each accused and imposed the additional conditions proposed.

The dates for next mention were fixed for Aug 13 and 22.