KUALA TERENGGANU: Two enforcement assistants from the Royal Malaysian Customs Department were charged at the Sessions Court here today, with accepting bribes totalling RM12,500 between December 2017 and April last year.
Che Mohd Taufik Che Arif, 33, and Mohd Afiq Ikhwan Ramli, 30, pleaded not guilty to the charges read out before Judge Mohd Azhar Othman.
According to the charges, Che Mohd Taufik faces 13 counts of receiving RM9,000 in bribes from J. Jehatis, the owner of Kalos Enterprise, as an inducement not to inspect the company’s trucks transporting goods from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) cargo terminal, while Mohd Afiq faces a single count of receiving a RM3,500 bribe for the same offence.
The bribes were allegedly received through online transfers from Jehatis to their respective accounts at Maybank’s Jertih branch in Besut.
Both accused were charged under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of at least five times the amount of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Maziah Mohaide proposed bail at RM20,000 for Che Mohd Taufik and RM10,000 for Mohd Afiq, along with additional conditions of surrendering their passports, monthly reporting to the nearest MACC office, and refraining from contacting prosecution witnesses until the case is concluded.
She also requested that both accused, who are still serving at KLIA, be denied access to Customs data and information during the relevant period.
Their lawyer Ridha Abdah Subri, however, requested lower bails, citing his clients’ financial constraints and asserting that they did not pose a flight risk.
Judge Mohd Azhar Othman set bail at RM16,000 for Che Mohd Taufik and RM5,000 for Mohd Afiq, with one surety each and agreed to the additional conditions. The case management date was set for July 18.
Earlier, MACC had announced plans to charge 23 Customs officers and personnel, detained during Op Samba 2.0, in sessions courts nationwide by this Thursday.
The operation, conducted from March 11 to 25, focused on investigating the Customs personnel working in the KLIA cargo division, ultimately uncovering a tax revenue loss of RM2 billion.
