Immigration officer gets five years jail, fined RM63,000 for corruption

SHAH ALAM: An Immigration Department officer was sentenced to five years jail and fined RM63,000 by the Sessions Court here today on four counts of soliciting and receiving bribes, four years ago.
Judge Asmadi Hussin passed down the sentence after R. Vikneswaran, 35, pleaded guilty to obtaining bribes amounting to RM12,600.
On the first charge, Asmadi sentenced him to five years in prison and RM20,000 fine for soliciting RM4,000 from Lakshumana R. Rao through a phone call at 4pm on July 18, 2012.
The bribe was an inducement for him to release two Indian nationals known as "Sudhakar" and "Sreekanth Bongoni" who had allegedly been using fake travel documents.
On the second charge, Vikneswaran was fined RM12,500 and jailed five years for soliciting RM2,500 from the same individual at 4.50pm on Sept 10 2012 as an inducement to release an Indian national known as "Satinder Pal".
On the third count, Asmadi sentenced him to five years imprisonment and RM12,500 fine for agreeing to accept a RM3,600 bribe from Lakshumana Rao at McDonalds restaurant, Nilai, Negri Sembilan, on July 24, 2012 at about 12.37am for the release of "Sudhakar" and "Sreekanth Bongoni".
On the fourth count, Vikneswaran was sentenced to five years in prison and RM18,000 fine for accepting a RM2,500 bribe from the same individual for releasing "Satinder Pal".
The offences were committed at the ground level of Block B car park, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 3.45pm on Sept 14, 2012.
Vikneswaran was charged under Section 16 (a)(B) and Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and fine not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, on conviction.
Asmadi ordered the jail sentences to run concurrently from today and failure to pay the fine may subject him to additional four years in prison.
Asmadi later allowed the accused's request to stay the prison sentence pending appeal but raised the bail amount from RM20,000 to RM50,000.
Vikneswaran was also ordered to pay the fines and bail amount by today and to report to the MACC Shah Alam office on the first Monday of each month. — Bernama