KOTA KINABALU, April 22 — The deputy director of the Sabah Railway Department and his two wives pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here today to bribery and money laundering charges involving RM2,199,739.

Ismail Ahmad, 59, was charged with 23 counts of graft of which eight was committed individually by him, while nine was committed along with his second wife, Runtiah Rais, 42 and six along with his first wife Masniah Buaya, 58.

All the 23 charges involved projects in the department concerned and were committed between Jan 23, 2018 and Aug 29, 2018 in several banks around Kota Kinabalu.

Twenty-one of the offences were committed on Jan 23, 2018 at various bank locations around Kota Kinabalu where Ismail had a certain amount of cash in his account from the contractor, and a similar offence was committed on Jan 24, 2018 and Aug 29, 2018 respectively.

Ismail and his two wives have been charged under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001

Judge Abu Bakar Manaf set bail for Ismail at RM100,000, and RM50,000 each for both his wives and  fixed re-mention on June 19.

In the court proceeding, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission was represented by deputy public prosecutors Mahadi Abdul Jumaat and Mohd Farez Rahman while the three accused were represented by lawyer Wontti Junius. — Bernama