RM800 bribe lands cop in jail, fined RM5,600

KUCHING: For accepting an RM800 bribe three years ago, a 43-year-old police officer was sentenced to two days' jail and fined RM5,600 by the Special Court for Corruption, here, today.
Abdul Aziz Ab Latiff who was a chief inspector attached to the Kota Sentosa police station, here, admitted to two charges read under Section 165 of the Penal Code.
In the first charge, he was accused of accepting RM500 cash from one Joseph Wong at about 7pm on Feb 11, 2011 as inducement for him not to take action against the latter who was found selling pirated movie VCDs and DVDs at a business outlet in Kota Sentosa.
For the offence, judge Marutin Pagan sentenced Abdul Aziz to a day's imprisonment and fined him RM3,500, in default three months' jail.
The accused was also sentenced to a day's jail and fined RM2,100 after he admitted to receiving RM300 cash on Oct 5 at 3.20pm from one Stephen Kon as inducement for not taking action against the latter.
In pleading for leniency, Abdul Aziz's first defence counsel Roger Chin urged the court to consider his client's status as a first offender and being the sole breadwinner for his family.
His second counsel Osman Ibrahim, meanwhile, told the court that his client would lose all his benefits as a government servant even after serving for 18 years due to the conviction.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Law Chin How, however, told the court that a lenient sentence on the accused would defeat the efforts of the government in fighting graft. – Bernama