KOTA KINABALU: A court here has slapped 11 company owners with 79 charges of using fake bank statements in their bid to get RM50mil contracts to supply food to primary and secondary boarding schools in Sabah between 2014 and 2018.

       Ten of them pleaded guilty before Special Corruption Court judge Abu Bakar Manat to a total of 29 charges for using fake documents under Section 371 and abetting under Section 107 of the Penal Code.

       Only one of the accused, Sinar Suria Wholesaler Rita Pengeran, 31, claimed trial to 50 similar charges.

       The ten who pleaded guilty were slapped with a RM5,000 fine for each of the total 29 charges against them by Judge Abu Bakar.

       The fines totalled RM145,000, and all of them paid the fines.

       The ten were Melinah Minus, 29, (owner of Pemilik Aspirasi Sejagat Enterprise), Yulles @ Osman Yakin, 40, (owner of Alhamdulillah Enterprise), Yunani Haikal, 38, (owner of Hadirah Enterprise), Saliuddin Ariffin, 38, (owner of Salam Rizqi Enterprise), Juanis Yakin, 38, (owner of Tupai-tupai Enterprise), Roslan Rasul, 37, (owner of Pemborong Impian), Marudin Andawa, 32, (owner of Tetap Unggul Enterprise), Kathlenawati Siambing, 49, (owner of Puncak Ilham Enterprise), Noryana Luciana Abdullah, 44, (owner of Fokus Genarasi Enterprise) and Eunus Likuran, 52, (owner of Pemborong Ar Rahman).

       Judge Abu Bakar allowed for Rita to be released on a RM15,000 bail with one surety. He also ordered her to report to the Keningau MACC office every month, surrender her passport to the court and have no contact with the prosecution witnesses during the course of the case.

       Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Izzati Sapiee represented the prosecution in the case against the 11 company owners who had submitted false three-month bank statements to the Sabah Education Department in their bid to get the food supply contracts with a total value of RM49,045,248.40.

       Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) had investigated the cases.