KUALA LUMPUR: Five colleagues of an information technology (IT) service company pleaded not guilty to the charge of modifying the content of an application without the permission of the Ministry of Health (KKM), six months ago.

They are Muhammad Farid Zanuri, 28, Muhammad Ikhwan Hakim Mohd Tahir, 26, Muhammad Ameer Idham Norasbi, 26, Mohamad Naqiuddin Mohd Najmi, 34 and Mohd Zul Fahmi Mokhtar, 36.

All the accused were charged with modifying the content of the Source Code for the Blood Bank Information System v2 (BBISv2) application, which is the reserved copyright of the Ministry of Health, by using a laptop supplied by the IT company without permission from the Ministry of Health.

The act was allegedly committed at the IT company in Bangsar here between April 1 and May 13 according to Section 5 (1) of the Computer Crimes Act 1997 and can be punished under Section 5 (4) of the same act.

The Act provides for a maximum fine of RM100,000 or imprisonment of not more than seven years or both, if convicted.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Ahmad Hijrah Wan Abdullah proposed bail of RM20,000 with one surety for each accused while lawyer S. Roshan represented all the accused asking for a lower bail on the grounds that they have family dependents.

Judge Siti Aminah Ghazali allowed each accused to be bailed at RM10,000 with one surety and fixed Jan 16 for the mention of the case.