Three cops acquitted of corruption charges
KOTA KINABALU: The Special Court for Corruption here yesterday freed three Royal Malaysian Police personnel from separate charges of asking bribes from two persons as inducements not to take action against two persons, whose urine samples were suspected to be positive for drug abuse five years ago.
In his reserved decision, judge Abu Bakar Manat acquitted and discharged Inspector Mohd Fa’iz Mohd Yusof, 36, and police corporals namely Liza Ambau, 42, and Elly Boniface Siew @ Siu Anak Tugok, 41, after finding that the defence from the trio had cast doubt on the prosecution’s case.
Mohd Fa’iz faced two charges of corruptly asking RM1,000 and RM2,000 from one Zaleha and the third charge accused Mohd Fa’iz of asking RM6,000 bribe from one Wong for the said purposes at a car park near a restaurant in Penampang and at the Penampang police station on February 9, 10 and April 8, 2016, respectively.
Meanwhile, Liza and Elly were alleged to have asked RM3,000 and RM6,000 bribes from the same Wong for the said purpose at the Penampang police station on April 8, 2016.
The three of them were charged under Section 16 (a) (B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, punishable under Section 24 of the same Act.
The indictment provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times of the bribe amount or RM1,000 of which amount is higher, upon conviction.
The prosecution had called 25 witnesses to testify against Mohd Fa’iz, Liza and Elly, who were represented by counsel PJ Perira, Dominic Chew and Luke Ressa Balang while the defence had called five witnesses.