JOHOR BARU, Dec 21 — Two Johor district education office assistants claimed trial at the Sessions Court today on charges of accepting bribes of RM4,500 and RM1,500 respectively about three years ago.

Both accused, Abd Razak Mohd Darom, 40, and Muhammad Faizal Abd Razak, 37, from the Tangkak district education office, made their plea after the charges were read to them separately by a court interpreter before Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Arifin Ismail today.

Based on the charge sheet, Abd Razak was allegedly given a bribe of RM4,500 by Siti Aminah Nahar, 39, a clerk at the Pagoh Vocational College, as inducement for the service of preparing a banquet or meeting for a seminar involving secondary (SMK) and primary (SK) school Islamic education teachers in 2019.

Muhammad Faizal, on the other hand, was allegedly given a bribe of RM1,500 by Siti Aminah as inducement for the same services for the Tangkak district education office’s strategic management workshop.

Both accused allegedly knew that the programmes were not implemented and failed to report the bribes to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Their charges were framed under Section 25(1) of the MACC Act 2009 and can be punished in accordance with Section 25 (2) of the same Act which carries a fine of up to RM100,000 or a maximum of 10 years imprisonment or both, if convicted.

In the same court, Siti Aminah also claimed trial to four main charges of falsifying documents, namely government order applications, direct purchase documents and supplier invoices and delivery orders totalling RM12,273.02 with the intention that the forged documents be used for fraudulent purposes.

She was charged under Section 468 of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum prison sentence of seven years and a fine, if convicted.

Siti Aminah also pleaded not guilty to four additional charges of knowingly passing off the falsified documents as genuine.

Their prosecutions were under Section 471 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 465 of the same Code which carries a maximum of two years imprisonment or a fine or both, upon conviction.

The three accused are alleged to have committed the alleged acts in the Tangkak district education office between August 2019 and December 2019.

Earlier, MACC prosecuting officer Nik Lokman Hakim Nik Mohd Nor informed the court that the offences under the sections faced by the accused are not bailable.

However, he suggested a sum of RM10,000 for Abd Razak and Muhammad Faizal, as well as RM40,000 for Siti Aminah, if the court allowed them to be bailed with additional conditions.

Lawyer Hazza Khalid, who represented Abd Razak and Muhammad Faizal as counsel, requested that the court to allow his client’s bail on the grounds that they were still working at the Tangkak district education office and had families who depended on them as breadwinners.

"The accused Abd Razak has served for 15 years with a net income of RM5,793.80 (per month). He has a wife and four children, one of whom has cancer.

"Accused Muhammad Faizal has served for 11 years and earns RM4,041 (per month). He also has a wife and four children, in addition to supporting his elderly mother," he said, requesting that the bail amount be reduced to RM5,000 each.

Siti Aminah’s counsel Hamdan Indah requested for a bail amount of RM20,000 and informed that one of the accused's children has cancer.

The court allowed Abd Razak and Muhammad Faizal to be bailed at RM5,000 each, while Siti Aminah was bailed at RM20,000.

The court also set the additional conditions that the international passports of all the accused be surrendered until the case is completed and the accused must report to Segamat MACC office every month.

The case is set for mention and the submission of documents on January 12 and 19 next year.