Senior federal counsel claims trial to two counts of bribery

BUTTERWORTH: A senior federal counsel was charged in the Sessions Court here yesterday on two counts of bribery in March and June this year.

Lim Cheah Yit, 42, however, pleaded not guilty to both charges when they were read out to him before Judge Noor Aini Yusof.

On the first charge, Lim was charged with soliciting RM500,000 from Goh Kim Heong as an inducement to influence the state prosecution director to charge Chan Eng Leong in court for a cheating case under Section 420 of the Penal Code at a family karaoke centre’ at about 7pm on March 8.

On the second count, Lim was alleged to have accepted RM100,000 bribe from Goh as payment to influence the state prosecution director to charge Chan in court for a cheating case at a hotel in Jalan Bukit Jambul at about 12.19pm on June 1.

Both offences were being charged under Section 16 (a) (B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission ( MACC) Act and punishable under Section 24 (1) of the same act, which carries a maximum of 20 years’ jail and a fine of not less than five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

MACC deputy public prosecutors Mohd Moukzany Fariz Mohd Mokhtar and Fairos Danial Mazlan appeared for the prosecution while counsel Ang Chun Pun represented Lim.

Moukzany offered bail of RM50,000 for both offences in one surety with a condition for the accused to report to the MACC office every month.

Ang, however, requested for the amount to be reduced as his client was a high-ranking civil servant and had no reason to abscond.

Noor Aini then set bail at RM20,000 for both offences with one surety and set an additional condition for the accused to report to the MACC office once a month.

The court fixed Aug 17 for a remention of the case.