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JOHOR BARU, Feb 22 — A 49-year-old administrative assistant with the Kluang district kadi’s office pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here today to 21 charges of making false claims of up to RM16,800 for mosque and surau religious classes that did not take place in 2015 and 2016.
Accused Norazah Abd Aziz, 49, made the plea after the charge was read out before judge Datuk Abdul Kamal Arifin Ismail.
According to the charge sheet, Norazah allegedly intended to deceive her principal, the Johor Islamic Religious Department (JAINJ) by making a false claim through the Teaching Claim Form under the mosque and surau takmir class plan amounting to RM800 each, for a duration of 21 months.
Takmir classes are usually conducted as an initiative to develop Islamic religious knowledge comprising aqeedah, ibadah and akhlaq studies.
The offence was committed by the accused in January to December 2015 and January to September 2016.
All the charges are under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009 which is punishable under Section 24 (2) of the same Act.
If convicted, the accused can be sentenced up to 20 years in prison and fined not less than five times the amount of bribe or RM10,000 whichever is higher.
The case was prosecuted by MACC prosecuting officer Nur Mahirah Mohd Pauzi, while the accused was represented by counsel Siti Norbaya Aman.
Earlier, Nur Mahirah applied for the court to set bail at RM30,000 with one surety and to have the accused passport surrendered. In addition to that, the accused was also required to report to the Johor MACC office every month.
However, Siti Norbaya applied to the court to set a lower bail on the grounds that the accused was having financial problems.
Abdul Kamal then allowed the accused bail of RM10,000 with one surety and her passport was handed over to the court.
The court set the re-mention of the case on March 8 for the submission of documents.