Former part-time govt employee pleads guilty to 15 counts of failing to report offers of gratification

23 Oct 2023 05:36pm

A former part-time employee of a government department was charged in the Sessions Court here today with 15 counts of failing to report offers of gratification amounting to RM9,700 which he received three years ago.

KUANTAN - A former part-time employee of a government department was charged in the Sessions Court here today with 15 counts of failing to report offers of gratification amounting to RM9,700 which he received three years ago.

Rozairi Ismail, 33, from Felda Jengka 13, Maran near here, pleaded guilty to all the charges before Judge Datuk Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain.

He was charged with receiving the gratifications of between RM200 and RM3,000, which were deposited into his account, by two individuals between July 24, 2020, and Jan 2, 2021, for information on projects under the department while he was on duty in Johor.

The charges are framed under Section 25(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, which provides a maximum fine of RM100,000 or imprisonment for up to 10 years or both, if convicted.

Judge Ahmad Zamzani set Nov 29 for submission of the facts of the case and sentencing and allowed Rozairi bail of RM13,000 in one surety for all the charges.

Rozairi was also ordered to surrender his passport to the court and to report himself at the Putrajaya MACC office every month pending the disposal of his case.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Nur Zahida Muhammad Ruzi, from the MACC, informed the court that the accused had a similar case pending at the Shah Alam court and the prosecution was planning to request for the case to be transferred to the court here.

Nur Zahida told the court that Rozairi was scheduled to be charged in the Shah Alam court next month.

Meanwhile, during mitigation, lawyer Mohd Shuhairil Ziqrul Sapi (repeat: Mohd Shuhairil Ziqrul Sapi), representing Rozairi, told the court that his client was still single and currently working as an e-hailing driver with a monthly income of about RM1,200 while pursuing his study at a public university.

"The instruction that I received was that my client wants to plead guilty to all the charges, including the ones facing him at the Shah Alam court,” said the lawyer. - BERNAMA