KUALA LUMPUR: An assistant manager from an English-language daily newspaper has been slapped with a 30-month jail sentence and a fine of RM100,000 by the sessions court today.
M. Youganesparan, 55, who was with the daily’s editorial department, was sentenced after he was found guilty of receiving bribes of RM20,000 in May of last year.
Sessions court judge Madihah Harullah said the defence had failed to prove the case was beyond a reasonable doubt. She added that should the accused fail to pay the fine, he would need to serve an additional 18 months in jail.
M. Youganesparan was accused of receiving the money from Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah, also 54, as an inducement for an officer of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to close a case involving Mohd Emir.
He had allegedly committed the offence at the Intermark Hotel, Jalan Tun Razak, here, at about 9.15pm on May 30, 2017.
The offence under Section 16(a)(B) of the MACC Act 2009 (Act 694) is punishable under Section 24 of the same act.
MACC deputy public prosecutor Abdul Rashid Sulaiman had asked for a deterrent sentence as corruption was a serious offence.
“The sentence meted out should reflect the seriousness of the offence and serve as a lesson to not only the accused but also to the public so that they would not commit such an act,“ he said.
However, Youganesparan’s lawyer G. Shankar applied for a stay of execution of his client’s jail term pending an appeal.
“We wish to appeal against the conviction and sentence due to special circumstances and my client is not in his best health,“ he added.
The stay application of the accused’s jail term was granted by the court and the defence ordered for the notice of appeal to be filed today.
The court also increased the accused’s bail amount from RM30,000 to RM40,000.
