Kota Kinabalu: Four people, two of them siblings were charged with producing fake bank statements to the Sabah Education Department to get contracts for supplying cooked food to hostels in Pitas and Tawau.
They were Sharifah Norhafizah Syed Abdul Hamid, 32, her brother Syed Hairul Nizam Syed Abdul Hamid, 41, Mohd Zul Azri Abd Shani, 41, and Linah Adou, 43.
The four pleaded not guilty before Sessions Court Judge Abu Bakar Manat, to the charges against them.
Each of them have three charges against them, respectively.
Sharifah and Syed on the first to third count, were accused of using the fake bank statements dated July 31, Aug 31, and Sept 30, 2016 under Syarikat Kadariah Corporation for the purpose of obtaining the tender to supply cooked food for SMK Kinabutan’s hostel in Tawau.
The contract of the tender was from April 1, 2017 until March 31, 2019.
Meanwhile, Mohd Zul and Linah, on the first to third count, allegedly had used the forged bank statements dated July 31, Aug 31, and Sept 30, 2016 under Linah Enterprise to get tender to supply cooked food for the hostel of SK Kanibongan in Pitas where the contract period was from March 1, 2017 to Feb 28, 2019.
The four allegedly committed the offence at the State Education Department here on November 24, 2016.
The offence under Section 471 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 468 of the same Code, carries a jail term of up to two years or a fine, or both, on conviction.
The court set Aug 18 for case management and the prosecution will serve all related documents to all the accused.
The four were released on bail of RM10,000 and RM5,000 deposited for Sharifah, Syed Hairul and Mohd Zul while Linah RM3,000, in a local surety.
The court also ordered the four to report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)’s office once in two months while their international passports, if any, to be impounded by the court.
The four were also reminded to not tamper with the prosecution witnesses.
Earlier, MACC Prosecuting Officer Clementine Severinus proposed bail of RM20,000 in a local surety for each of the accused with several conditions.
However, counsel Azhier Farhan Arisin who represented Sharifah and Syed Hairul, asked for a lower sum of bail saying that the siblings have no risk of absconding since they had been reporting themselves to the MACC monthly without fail during their remand period.
Azhier added that his clients have family commitments as Sharifah, who is a lecturer at a higher learning institution, is taking care of their 68-year-old mother and will be getting married soon while Syed Hairul, who has periodical review at a hospital here due to his illness, needed to support his three young children.
Meanwhile, Mohd Zul and Linah, who were not represented, also asked for a lower bail.
In asking for a lower bail amount, Mohd Zul said he has two school-going children aged 12 and 15 respectively while his wife is only a food seller.
Mohd Zul added that he has lost his source of income since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was implemented.
Linah who has three children, informed the court that that she and her husband are jobless and they plant food crops for consumption.
She admitted that the company (Linah Enterprise) belonged to her.
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