BUTTERWORTH: A female engineer pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here today to a charge of using her position to award a tender worth RM158,440 to a company in which she had an interest, around 2018.

Mastura Ibrahim, 41, made the plea after the charges were read out before Judge Zulhazmi Abdullah.

According to the charge sheet, Mastura as a Grade J48 Civil Engineer at the Penang Public Works Department (JKR) had used her position as a Quotation Committee Member by selecting Rizwani Company in the Bill Quotation Committee Discussion Meeting Bil. 7/2018 in which the accused has an interest.

As a result of the decision, the company has received renovation works for the office space of the State Information and Communication Technology Division and other related works worth RM158,440.

The offence allegedly occurred on June 11, 2018 at the Penang PWD office.

The case was filed under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 which provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

The case was handled by deputy public prosecutors Noor Azura Zulkiflee and Afiqah Liyana Rozman, while the accused was not represented by a lawyer.

The court set Jan 27 next year as the date for mention and allowed the accused to be granted bail of RM15,000 with one surety and the additional condition that she must report to the MACC office once a month and surrender her passport to the court.