SHAH ALAM - A former deputy general manager of the Sepang Farmers Area Organisation (FAO) pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here today to two charges of soliciting bribes amounting to RM6,000 in connection with the 2021 Food Guarantee Fund Programme.
On both charges, Mohd Asyraf Mohd Fauzi, 36, was charged with corruptly asking for money from a 39-year-old local man as an incentive to help him obtain cleaning work and for the supply of sugar cane seedlings in connection with the 2021 Food Guarantee Fund Project for sugarcane farming.
He was alleged to have committed the offences at a restaurant in Kampung Giching, Sepang, near here in September 2021.
The charges, framed under Section 16(a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 which provides imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount or value of the bribe that is the subject of the offence, or RM10,000 whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Judge Rozilah Salleh set bail at RM8,000 with one surety and ordered Mohd Asyraf to surrender his passport to the court and report himself at a MACC office.
She also set May 24 for mention.
Deputy public prosecutor Muaz Ahmad Khairuddin prosecuted, while lawyer Ahmad Saleh represented the accused. - BERNAMA