KUALA LUMPUR: Four former bank officers pleaded not guilty in two Sessions Courts here today to charges of accepting bribes totalling RM177,769.39 involving personal loan applications from customers.
The accused are Noor Iskandar Aziz, 44, and Muhammad Najmi Mu’az Pekan, 34, who are now e-hailing drivers, Amir Hafizi Anuar, 29, a salesman, and Syazwan Akmal Badran, 33, an employee of a private company.
Before Judge Rosli Ahmad, Noor Iskandar, a former marketing officer at Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad Putrajaya Branch, faced ten counts of accepting bribes totalling RM94,173 from CSA Infinite Consultancy Company, Ong Kim Hock, Ong Mun Ho, Lim Kim Yen and Anas Syazwan Abd Samad.
Also charged before Judge Rosli was Muhammad Najmi Mu’az, a former consumer finance executive at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad PKNS Branch in Shah Alam, who faced two counts of receiving bribes totalling RM5,567 from JWW Titans Trading and Lim.
Amir Hafizi, a former marketing officer at Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad Kajang Branch, was charged with seven counts of receiving bribes totalling RM37,347.76 from CSA Infinite Company, JZ Solution Company and Lim.
They were accused of accepting bribes as rewards for assisting in processing personal financing applications for customers of CSA Academy Company who had submitted similar applications to several other financial institutions.
This resulted in customers obtaining multiple loans that exceeded their eligibility limits.
Meanwhile, Syazwan Akmal, a former marketing officer at Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad Petaling Jaya Branch, pleaded not guilty before Judge Azura Alwi to eight counts of receiving bribes totalling RM42,681.63 from JWW Titans Company, CSA Infinite Company, Lim and JZ Solution Company for similar purposes.
All offences were allegedly committed at Maybank and RHB Bank in Shah Alam and Kuala Lumpur between October 5, 2021, and July 5, 2024.
The charges were framed under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, which provides for a maximum 20 years imprisonment and a fine of five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
The court granted Noor Iskandar, Muhammad Najmi Mu’az, Amir Hafizi and Syazwan Akmal bail of RM25,000, RM10,000, RM20,000 and RM15,000 respectively, with one surety each.
Additional bail conditions required them to surrender their passports to the court and report monthly to the MACC office.
The accused are also prohibited from interfering with prosecution witnesses.
The court set mention dates for November 20 for Noor Iskandar’s case and December 10 for the cases involving Muhammad Najmi Mu’az and Amir Hafizi.
Judge Azura set December 3 for the mention of Syazwan Akmal’s case.
Deputy public prosecutors Nurul Izzati Sapifee, M. Esther Jacyntha and Nidzuwan Abd Latip conducted the prosecution.
Lawyers A. Rayveni, Abdul Hakeem Aiman Mohd Affandi and Humaidi Zulkifli represented the accused, except Syazwan Akmal who was unrepresented. – Bernama
