Former Forestry director jailed 36 months, fined for corruption

KUALA TERENGGANU: The sessions court today imposed a jail sentence totalling 36 months and a total fine of RM30,000 on Datuk Azmi Nordin, a former director of the Terengganu Department of Forestry, after finding him guilty on three counts of corruption in 2013.
Judge Mohamad Haldar Abdul Aziz imposed a jail sentence of 12 months and a fine of RM10,000 for each of the three counts of accepting bribes which totaled RM60,000.
Azmi, 59, now a forestry officer at the Forestry Department headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, was ordered to serve the jail sentences concurrently.
However, he was allowed a stay of the sentence following a request by his counsel, Mohd Hayyatuddin Muhamad, pending an appeal. He paid the fine.
On the first count, Azmi, who was initially charged in the sessions court under Section 165 of the Penal Code, was charged with accepting a bribe of RM30,000 through a Malayan Banking Berhad account belonging to one Azhar Nordin from a logging contractor, Yew Keong Fah, to obtain a logging concession at Kompartmen 36b and 40a of the Hulu Terengganu Forest Reserves in Mukim Tersat on March 3, 2013.
The second charge was for accepting RM20,000 through a Malayan Banking Berhad account belonging to Syarikat D Laman Kulturakebunan, also from Yew, for the same purpose on June 16, 2013.
On the third count, Azmi was charged with accepting RM10,000 from Yew through a bank account belonging to the same company on Aug 13 the same year.
Deputy public prosecutor from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Farah Yasmin Salleh prosecuted. — Bernama