PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian supervisor in Singapore has been sentenced to four weeks imprisonment for accepting a S$29 (RM95) bribe from a Bangladeshi resident carryng contraband cigarettes at the dormitory.
The security supervisor, Tanayogaraj Nagaraji was handed the jail sentence on Tuesday (Jan 14) and ordered to pay a S$2 penalty after pleading guilty to one count each of graft and unlawfully holding the resident’s work pass.
The 40-year-old was assigned to supervising security officers at the dormitory and attend to cases involving prohibited items brought into the premises, according to Singaporean news portal The New Paper
The prosecution during the trial confirmed that enforcement offiers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and the Health Sciences Authority raided the dormitory for contraband items on November 22 2024.
The Bangladeshi resident, Hasan Kamrul, 34, returned to the dormitory at night and one of the security officers found the cigarette stick in his bag during an inspection and was then taken to Tanayogaraj who was handed the items.
The prosecution told the court that Tanayogaraj was supposed to take pictures of Hasan’s work permit and contraband cigarette then confiscate the cigarette and report the incident to the higher management.
Hasan, during the incident, asked Tanayogaraj for a second chance – which was when he decided to ask him for S$30 (RM99) in return for looking the other way, which he agreed to and offered to transfer the money to the accused at first.
However, Tanayogaraj insisted he pay in cash, even reportedly withholding the work permit, despite not having authority to do so.
After getting S$29 in cash, Tanayogaraj took Hasan to a secluded corner, believed to be a “blind spot” for surveillance cameras and took the cash at around 10.45pm then he was allowed to leave with his work permit.
Following the exchange, the security supervisor bought a S$2 (RM6) energy drink and the balance of S$27 (RM89) was placed under a computer mat in the guardhouse he was stationed at.
The prosecution then confirmed that the management was tipped off on Tanayogaraj’s actions by a dormitory cleaner, who earlier saw Hasan borrowing money from his friend to pay off Tanayogaraj.
The cleaner then spotted Hasan and Tanayogaraj at the secluded area and later was informed of the situation by Hasan then reported the incident to his supervisor at around 11pm.
Later, Tanayogaraj’s management headed together with Hasan to his station at the guardhouse and confronted him about the issue which he initially denied but was eventually caught after police officers searched the guardhouse found the remaining S$27 and was arrested in the end.
