Mazhazni Jamaludin, 36, who was in the company’s marine services division, pleaded not guilty before Sessions judge Rozilah Salleh yesterday.
He was accused of obtaining the money from MLC Shipbuildings Sdn Bhd owner Redzuan Goh Mohamad Karian as a reward for proposing the company for the contract at the MLC Shipbuildings office in Jalan Tun Razak here between 1.25pm and 5pm on Dec 31, 2008.
He also allegedly endorsed payments for the building of the three barges.
If convicted for the offence under Section 11(a) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997, he can be jailed between 14 days and 20 years, and fined not less than five times the amount of the bribe.
Prosecuting was deputy public prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission while Shamsul Sulaiman stood as counsel for Mazhazni. Morais suggested bail at RM20,000 in one surety.
In mitigating for lower bail, Shamsul told the court that throughout the investigations, his client was told that he would be called as a witness but later was charged without a warrant of arrest.
“My client says he was tortured during investigations. He said he was stripped naked, had his eyes blindfolded, and he was asked to do all sorts of things in front of the person interrogating him.
“He was made to stand on one foot, and had threats including mampuslah anak kau nanti (‘your child will die’), until he could not take it any more, and gave them a statement according to what they wanted,” Shamsul said.
Morais said the accused was released on a RM10,000 MACC bail in June this year, and that if the allegations were true, he could have lodged a police report much earlier.
“But he is only raising this issue today when he is being charged. Impossible,” he said.
The court then granted the accused bail at RM20,000 in one surety, and set Jan 7 next year for mention.
Reported By The Star
