Engineer jailed six years, fined RM236,000 for corruption

KOTA BHARU: A Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) engineer was sentenced to six years' jail and fined a total of RM236,000 by the Sessions Court here today after he pleaded guilty to 16 counts of corruption, involving more than RM40,000.
Judge Ahmad Bazli Bahruddin handed down the sentence on Mohd Asrul Hisyam Setapa, 32, after finding that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubts against the prosecution's case.
He sentenced Mohd Asrul Hisyam to three years' jail on each count, with the jail sentence for 1st to the 12th charge to be served concurrently from today, while the sentence for the 13th to the 16th ​​​​​​​charge, also to be served concurrently, after he had completed serving time for the first 12th charges.
However, Ahmad Azli allowed a stay of the sentence pending an appeal at the High Court and allowed Mohd Asrul Hisyam bail of RM25,000 in one surety.
Mohd Asrul Hisham was also ordered to report himself at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office here every month.
On all the charges, Mohd Asrul Hisyam, was charged with accepting bribes in the form of goods and cash, totalling RM40,248.03, at several locations here between April 4, 2016 and Aug 22, 2016.
The charges were made under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) 2009, which provides an imprisonment for up to 20 years and fine of not less than five times the amount and value of the gratification, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor from MACC ​​​​​​​Shahidah Muslimah Roslan prosecuted, while Mohd Asrul Hisham was represented by lawyer Azrul Zulkifli Stork. — Bernama