Six Sarawak Immigration officers claim trial to bribery
PETRA JAYA: Six Immigration enforcement officers accused of accepting bribes via online money transfers claimed trial here yesterday.
They were separately slapped with charges of obtaining money for favours in their line of work under Section 165 of the Penal Code.
The six were Agnes James Daim, Gracy Bohan, Norhaliza Hussein, Emily Ngayan Beliang, Benjamin Morsit and Khairul Nizam Omar.
Special Corruption Court judge Nixon Kennedy Kumbong fixed bail of between RM5,000 and RM8,000 with one surety for each of the accused, who allegedly received the money via transactions from Fazal Illahi Juma Gul.
Of the six, Khairul was accused of receiving the highest amount at RM1,000 on Dec 19 last year.
Norhaliza allegedly accepted RM500 on Dec 27 last year and RM100 on Jan 1; Emily allegedly accepted RM300 on Jan 6; Agnes allegedly accepted RM200 on Dec 24 last year; Benjamin allegedly accepted RM200 on Dec 13 last year; while Gracy allegedly accepted RM100 on April 22 last year and Dec 25 last year.
The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutors Katherine Nais, Ikhwan Mohd Ibrahim and Mohd Asri Abu Mansor, while the accused were represented by Roger Chin, Hani Iryani Bonay, Francis Wee and Osman Ibrahim.
Last month, it was reported that 11 Immigration officers were arrested by the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission during a special operation against corrupt officers linked to the influx of illegal immigrants in the state.
MACC investigations director Datuk Simi Abd Ghani had said the commission had identified at least five syndicates “buying” enforcement officers to protect illegal immigrants working in Sarawak.
Two have been crippled with the arrest of the Immigration enforcement officers.
Sources, however, declined to elaborate on MACC’s probe into the remaining syndicates, which were still operating.
“We are gathering intelligence and compiling evidence before we proceed with the next move,” a source said.