PUTRAJAYA: Former Kuala Lumpur Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) director, Datuk Abu Bakar Mohd Yusof began serving his 26-month prison sentence today after the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction on three counts of accepting bribes.
A three-member bench led by Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, dismissed the final appeal against his conviction and sentence.
The court issued a committal warrant for Abu Bakar, 74, who had been released on RM45,000 bail with one surety, ordering him to commence his prison term immediately.
In 2018, he was sentenced by the Sessions Court to 26 months’ imprisonment and fined RM133,326.40 after being convicted of accepting bribes, including hotel accommodation and RM20,000 in cash, from a company proprietor between 2014 and 2015.
In 2022, his appeal to the High Court was dismissed, prompting him to take the matter to the Court of Appeal. Abu Bakar has since settled the fine.
Justice Azmi, delivering the unanimous decision today, ruled that Abu Bakar’s appeal was without merit, adding that the evidence against him was overwhelming.
He also ruled that the two prosecution witnesses’ testimonies were credible and they were not accomplices as argued by the defence.
The court also dismissed Abu Bakar’s request for his sentences, which were ordered to run consecutively, meaning he will serve only 20 months in prison.
On Nov 23, 2018, the Sessions Court sentenced Abu Bakar to two months imprisonment and fined him RM10,486.40 for accepting bribes in the form of hotel accommodation from Mazlan Jamalludin, as inducement to appoint Mazlan’s company, Syarikat Warna Gergasi Sdn Bhd, to undertake contract work at the Batu Dam area.
The offence was committed at a hotel in Pantai Bagan Lalang, Sungai Pelek, Sepang between Nov 28, 2014 and Nov 30, 2014.
Abu Bakar was further sentenced to four months in prison and fined RM22,840 for accepting bribes in the form of hotel accommodation from Mazlan to retain the contract.
The offence was committed at a hotel in Teluk Kemang, Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan between June 12, 2015 and June 14, 2015.
He was also sentenced to 20 months in prison and fined RM100,000 for accepting a RM20,000 bribe from Mazlan to refrain from interfering with and to maintain the contract. The offence was committed at the same hotel in Port Dickson on June 14, 2015.
In a related case, a former draughtsman of DID, Mohd Nasir Mohd Isa, 53, was found guilty of accepting bribes from the same company.
He was sentenced to 42 months in prison and fined RM222,500 by the Sessions Court. His subsequent appeal to the High Court was struck out after he withdrew it.
In today’s proceedings, deputy public prosecutors from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Noralis Mat and Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir appeared for the prosecution, while Abu Bakar was represented by lawyer Ainur Azalia Ayoub.
