ALOR STAR: A former police inspector claimed trial at the Session Court here today to a charge of accepting a RM500 bribe from a drug addict in Baling district seven years ago.
Mohamad Hilmi Abd Hamid, 38, pleaded not guilty before Judge Harmi Thamri Mohamad when the charge was read out to him by the court interpreter.
He was alleged to have accepted RM500 to place Zulkifli Ahmad, 46, who tested positive for morphine, under home surveillance order instead of being sent to the drugs rehabilitation centre.
The accused had allegedly accepted the bribe in front of the Cili Merah eatery in Kampung Ceruk Bemban, Kupang, about 3.45pm on April 17, 2015, while being attached as an investigation officer with Baling district police's Narcotics Investigation Division.
He was charged under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption (MACC) Act 2019 that carries imprisonment not over 20 years and a fine not less than five times the amount of bribes or RM10,000 whichever is higher.
Kedah MACC deputy public prosecutor Mohd Zulfadli Azharudin prosecuted while lawyer S. Parameswaran represented the accused.
The prosecution urged the court to set bail at RM20,000 and ordered him to report to the nearest MACC office every month during the trial process.
In mitigation, Parameswaran pleaded to the court to lower the bail to RM10,000 as his client had resigned from the police force in 2019 and was only earning RM3,000 monthly as a security guard.
He also told the court that Mohamad Hilmi, from Perai in Penang, has a wife and two children to support besides caring for his mother and his mother-in-law.
The court subsequently fixed the bail at RM12,000 with one surety and ordered the accused to hand over his passport to the court, besides reporting at the Sungai Petani MACC office every two months throughout the trial process.
The court had also set May 22 as mention date and exchange of documents.
