KUALA LUMPUR: A former minister’s son who is a freelance consultant claimed trial at the Sessions Court here today to a charge of accepting a bribe of RM100,000 six years ago.
Muhammad Faisal Hamzah, 40, son of former Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, was charged with accepting the bribe from Izmir Abd Hamid as an inducement to use his influence to have Heitech Padu Berhad appoint Syarikat Rimba Merpati and Syarikat Per My Solutions as its marketing consultants.
Those companies were paid a commission of RM700,000 after Heitech Padu was awarded a RM33 million worth of “Supply, Rental, Implementation, Training, Support and Maintenance of Security Infrastructure” tender by the Companies Commission of Malaysia.
Muhammad Faisal is alleged to have committed the offence at an office lot in a shopping mall at Jalan Dutamas 1 here on March 2018.
The charge, framed under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of RM10,000 or five times the amount of the bribe, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Judge Rozina Ayob allowed the accused bail of RM25,000 in one surety and set July 5 for remention. Deputy public prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat acted for the prosecution, while Muhammad Faisal was represented by lawyer Ravinder Singh Dhalliwal.
On April 5 last year, Muhammad Faisal and his business partner Azizul Abdul Halim were charged at the Seremban Sessions Court with nine counts of submitting false documents over cooking oil subsidies.
