A former board member of an e-waste firm denies abetting a RM50,000 bribe to a DOE officer to avoid legal action for environmental offences
SEREMBAN: A former board member of an electronic waste (e-waste) disposal company pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here today to a charge of abetting an individual to give a RM50,000 bribe to a Department of Environment (DOE) officer last year.
Jiang Fanjun, 43, a Chinese national, made the plea after the charge was read out to him by an interpreter before Judge Mohamad Kamil Nizam.
According to the charge, Jiang is alleged to have abetted Soon Kein Chong, 40, in giving a RM50,000 bribe to the DOE officer.
The bribe was allegedly offered as an inducement to prevent legal action from being taken against Soon under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 for several offences, including operating a premises without licence, failing to obtain written permission from the Director-General, not securing approval for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, and placing scheduled waste at undesignated premises.
The offence was allegedly committed at Jalan Zamrud, Nilai Industrial Estate, at about 1 pm on Feb 12 last year, and was framed under Section 28(1)(c) read together with Section 17(b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
MACC prosecuting officer Muhammad Arif Asyraf Mohd Khairi offered bail of RM20,000 in two local sureties, along with additional conditions requiring the accused to report to the MACC office at the beginning of each month, surrender his passport to the court and refrain from interfering with witnesses, either directly or through third parties.
Lawyer Muhammad Denial Khairul Hizam, who represented the accused, agreed to the bail amount and the additional conditions proposed by the prosecution.
The court allowed the accused to be released on bail of RM20,000 in two local sureties, subject to all the additional conditions sought by the prosecution, and fixed March 6 for case re-mention.
On Jan 23, Soon, who is also an agent of the company involved, pleaded not guilty to the charge of bribing the DOE officer.
