Three immigration officers and a restaurant owner face corruption charges in Johor Bahru Sessions Court over ‘counter setting’ bribes for passport checks.
JOHOR BAHRU: Three immigration officers and a restaurant owner pleaded not guilty to multiple corruption charges in the Sessions Court here today.
The charges relate to alleged ‘counter setting’ activities in Pasir Gudang and Muar between 2023 and February last year.
The accused are Immigration officers Md Azhar Jamal, 40, Ridzal Mohd Yasin, 43, Hairizam Mohamed, 58, and restaurant owner Haslan Hazilah, 57.
Md Azhar faces 14 counts of agreeing to accept bribes totalling RM28,600. The charges state he received sums between RM400 and RM4,500 via online transfer from a woman.
He allegedly committed the offences while responsible for checking the validity of foreign nationals’ travel documents.
The acts were purportedly committed at a bank in Simpang Renggam, Kluang, between July 2024 and February 2025.
Ridzal faces two charges of accepting bribes totalling RM1,700 from a male agent. He is accused of accepting money to avoid conducting thorough inspections of Indonesian citizens’ travel documents at the Pasir Gudang ferry terminal.
Both offences were allegedly committed in a toilet near the immigration counter in April and August 2023.
Hairizam is accused of accepting a RM100 bribe to facilitate the entry of Indonesian travellers into Malaysia. The alleged act occurred at the Pasir Gudang Immigration office on August 28, 2024.
Haslan was charged with accepting a RM1,200 bribe to act as a middleman. He allegedly took the money to help facilitate the entry and exit of Indonesian travellers at a restaurant in Muar on November 11, 2024.
Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Arifin Ismail granted bail to all four accused. Md Azhar was granted bail of RM10,000, while the other three were granted RM8,000 bail each.
The bail conditions require them to surrender their passports to the court and report to the nearby MACC headquarters once a month.
The court set February 24 and 25 for mention of the case.
