JOHOR BARU: Three Indian nationals have pleaded guilty to a charge of trying to bribe a policeman – but the trial judge has given them a chance to find an interpreter as they might not understand the ramifications of their plea.
Kansara Sanjay Bhojabhai, 42; Chavda Narendrakumar Ranjitsinh, 35; and Patel Gaurangkumar Hasmukhbhai, 32; entered the plea after the charges were read to them before Sessions Court judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Arifin Ismail here on Thursday (Nov 18).
According to the charge sheet, the trio, with common intent, tried to bribe a Lans Korporal with cash amounting to RM2,922 as an inducement not to take action against them for an offence under Regulation 10 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Regulations 2021.
The offence was allegedly committed at Johor Baru Sentral police station at 10.16pm on Sept 3 and is in violation of Section 17(b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) 2009 Act.
The offence carries a fine of five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, whichever is greater, and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison upon conviction.
The case was prosecuted by MACC prosecution officer Ikhwan Ihsan Jalaludin, while the accused were represented by K. Bharathi.
Earlier, Ahmad Kamal had asked Bharathi to help the court interpreter relay the charges in English as the accused could not understand Bahasa Malaysia, and their native language is Hindi.
The court then offered a chance to the three, who were previously working at the Tanjung Pelepas Port in Gelang Patah, to appoint a Hindi language interpreter.
Ikhwan Ihsan then requested bail to be set at RM20,000 for each accused, with an additional term where the accused are required to hand over their passports and report to the MACC office every month.
In mitigation, Bharathi said the accused had been laid off from work and requested a lower bail.
The court then set bail at RM8,000 with two sureties for each accused along with the additional terms. It also set Dec 22 for next mention.
All three accused posted bail.