JOHOR BARU: A school dorm caretaker has claimed trial at the Sessions Court here to 26 charges of submitting false claims and accepting bribes amounting to more than RM600,000.
Hazalilah Ahmad, 41, pleaded not guilty to the 22 charges of submitting false claims and four bribery charges against her in front of Sessions Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Ariffin Ismail here yesterday.
In her first to 22nd charge sheets, she allegedly made false claims worth RM504,752 involving the supply of cooked food to Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School at Bandar Penawar in Kota Tinggi between October 2015 and December 2017.
Hazalilah allegedly accepted a bribe of RM69,743 through her husband’s bank account as an inducement for her to approve the food supply deal for the same school.
She was also accused of accepting a bribe worth RM61,600 through her husband’s bank account as an inducement for her to help submit a claim for food supply to the school, between April 2019 and January 2020.
She was charged under Section 468 of the Penal Code for forging a document for the purpose of cheating, which provides for imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine upon conviction, and Section 165 of the Penal Code for accepting bribes, which provides a jail term of up to two years or a fine or both, if found guilty.
The accused was also charged under Section 25 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 for failing to report an act of bribery, which carries a fine not exceeding RM100,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or both, upon conviction.
Ahmad Kamal then set bail at RM30,000 with one surety, ordered Hazalilah to surrender her passport to the court, and set Aug 22 for mention.
MACC prosecution officer Nik Lokman Hakim Nik Mohd Nor prosecuted the case while lawyer Noor Nabilah Shamsudin represented the accused.
Hazalilah posted bail.
Meanwhile, in KUALA TERENGGANU, Bernama reported that four people who were recently arrested on suspicion of making false claims over development projects worth over RM300mil in the East Coast have been released on bail by the MACC.
Last Friday, Bernama reported that a managing director of a government-linked company involved in real estate was among the four individuals arrested.
The three others were a company director, a project manager and an architect.
The lawyer representing the four suspects, Vivek Sukumaran, said they were all released after their six-day remand order ended yesterday.
“The case is still being investigated. The remand was not extended as all of them, aged between 28 and 48, had given full cooperation to the MACC.
“I hope all quarters will stop speculating. Just give room to the MACC to complete its investigation,” he told reporters here yesterday.