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KOTA KINABALU, Feb 15 — Three federal government servants pleaded not guilty in the Special Corruption Court here today to charges of submitting false claims and power abuse.
Two of them, Panduan Paglin, 40, and Erwan Roslan, 41, who are staff of the Sabah National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK), were charged under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 for making false travel and hotel claims.
Paduan and Erwan were charged with six counts of making false travel and hotel claims each amounting to RM3,443 and RM2,938, respectively, in 2017.
The other, Mohd Hizan Laliman, 40, an assistant information technology officer at the Sabah National Institute of Public Administration (Intan), was charged under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009 for power abuse by awarding office contracts to his family members.
He was charged with 11 counts of awarding several contracts for the supply and repair of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment, as well as food supply, totalling more than RM36,000 to his family members.
The offence was allegedly committed between 2013 and 2015.
Judge Abu Bakar Manat allowed all the three accused bail with one surety each and to report to the nearest MACC office every month.
Panduan and Erwan were allowed bail of RM10,000 with a deposit of RM5,000 each, while Mohd Hizan was allowed bail of RM15,000 with a deposit of RM7,000.
The prosecution was conducted by MACC Prosecuting Officer Rakhraj Singh, while Panduan and Erwan were represented by lawyer Jamadi Salleh. Mohd Hizan was represented by lawyer Mohd Ari Nazrah.
The court set April 7 for mention of case involving Panduan and Erwan, and March 31 for Mohd Hizan’s case. — Bernama