Penang Zakat CEO faces fresh graft charges
> Alleged to have taken bribes to award projects
BUTTERWORTH: The Penang Zakat Management Centre’s chief executive officer was slapped with two fresh bribery charges in the sessions court yesterday.
Datuk Azman Abdul Samat, 50, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him before sessions judge Sitarun Nisa Abdul Aziz.
Azman, who appeared calm, was alleged to have received a RM5,000 Hong Leong Bank cheque from the owner of Syarikat MW Global Trading, Wardi Ramli, at his office in January 2014.
On the second charge, he is alleged to have received a Hong Leong Islamic Bank cheque for RM4,000 from the owner of Syarikat Al Global Trading Ashri Ismail, at his office between Dec 28 and Dec 30, last year.
Both cheques were allegedly inducement for the accused to award the companies with projects associated with the zakat centre.
Azman was charged under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to two years, or a fine, or both.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Ghazali Muhammad Nadzri suggested RM10,000 bail in one surety for the accused but Sitarun fixed RM5,000 in one surety.
She also set Dec 29 for case management.
Last May, Azman and three Zakat officers were detained by MACC to facilitate investigations into a corruption probe involving the state agency.
Eight contractors were also detained in an operation dubbed “Ops Miskin”.
The centre’s officers are alleged to have accepted valuable items, cheques and cash from the contractors as incentives to award the latter with projects or other work-related programmes.
On July 19, Azman claimed trial to three charges of graft at the Butterworth sessions court.
Based on the charges, he is alleged to have received three branded watches worth a total of RM3,500 from three different companies.