Ship captain pleads not guilty to bribing MMEA officer

KUCHING: A captain of a ship pleaded not guilty in the Special Corruption Court here today to a charge of bribing a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) officer.
Chieng Siew Hang, 36, was charged with offering a RM1,400 bribe to the MMEA officer as an inducement of the enforcement personnel to not take action against him for not having a safety certificate and there was no chief engineer onboard Lipo Jaya II when sailing in waters off Tanjong Po, near Kuching, at 7.10pm on April 11 last year.
The charge, under Section 17(b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, provides an imprisonment for up to 20 years, or five times the amount of the bribe involved, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, if found guilty.
Judge Nixon Kennedy allowed Chieng bail of RM8,000 without deposit in one surety and fixed Mar 19 for mention, and April 4 to 6 for the trial.
Chieng, who is married with four children, is represented by lawyer William Kong, while the prosecution was conducted by MACC prosecuting officer Dzulkarnain Rousan Hasbi. — Bernama