Cooking oil supply: Businessman charged with 16 counts of submitting false claims
07 Jul 2023 05:19pm
Cooking oil supply: Businessman charged with 16 counts of submitting false claims
Teh Kok Hong, 34, made the plea before Judge Rozina Ayob.
He was charged with giving 16 sets of documents, namely claims for financial assistance to palm oil mills/packaging factories, known as the "Penyata Tuntutan Bayaran Bantuan Kewangan Kepada Kilang Penapis/Pembungkus Minyak Masak Sawit Tulen” dated between Sept 4, 2019, and April 30, 2020, amounting to RM258,426 which contained false information to two MDTCA agents, with the intention of deceiving the ministry.
The claims were allegedly for the supply of cooking oil that did not exist.
The offences were allegedly committed at the Subsidy and Supply Division, Industrial Accounting Analysis Branch, Domestic Trade Division, MDTCA in Putrajaya between Sept 25, 2019, and May 12, 2020.
The charges were framed under Section 18 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 sum or value of the false or erroneous or defective material and where such false or erroneous or defective material is capable of being valued, or of a pecuniary nature, RM10,000, whichever is higher, if found guilty.
Earlier, MACC prosecuting officer Zander Lim Wai Keong offered RM100,000 bail with one surety for all charges, but lawyer P.Sandrasegaran, representing Teh, requested a low bail on the grounds that his client, who does business in Batu Pahat, Johor, had given full cooperation to MACC throughout the investigation.
The court then allowed Teh bail of RM40,000 with one surety for all charges and also ordered him to report himself at the MACC office in Johor once a month.
The court also set Sept 11 for mention. - BERNAMA
