KL Customs Chief, Seven Senior Officers Face 24 Corruption Charges

SHAH ALAM, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Kuala Lumpur Customs Department director, Datuk Mohd Isa Endot, and seven other Customs officers were today charged in the Sessions Court, here, with 24 counts of corruption involving bribes received amounting to RM42,400.

The graft offences, allegedly committed between March, 2013 and August, 2014, were in connection with the smuggling of liquor for which duty had not been paid.

The seven other officers charged include Assistant Superintendent Muhamad Helmi Burhanudin from the Operations Branch of the Enforcement Division, Selangor Customs headquarters, Senior Asst. Supt. II Wan Azman Wan Ali from the KL Customs Department and Senior Asst. Supt. II Jamaluddin Zam Zam from the Customs Central Zone's Intelligence Branch, Putrajaya.

The others are Asst. Supt Mohamad Fauzi Kamsar, Supt Shamsul Anwar Mohd Radzi, senior Customs officer Azlee Mohamed Yusof and Senior Asst. Supt Mohamed Rozlan Ibrahim, also from the Kuala Lumpur Customs Department.

Mohd Isa, Muhamad Helmi, Wan Azman, Mohamad Fauzi, Jamaluddin and Mohamed Rozlan were separately charged while Shamsul Anwar and Azlee were jointly charged.

Mohd Isa, 55, pleaded not guilty to four charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM8,000 as monthly payment and protection money to facilitate a company's dealings with Customs.

He is alleged to have committed the offences at his office, Level 5, Block C, Wisma Kastam Kelana Jaya, between May and August, this year.

Muhamad Helmi, 37, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty to seven charges of accepting bribes on a monthly basis amounting to RM14,000 as inducement not to disturb a lorry leaving the Klang Port Free Zone. The lorry belonged to an individual with vested interest.

Muhamad Helmi allegedly committed the offences at the Operations Branch of the Enforcement Division, Selangor Customs Department between February and August, this year.

Wan Azman, 47, pleaded not guilty to five accounts of soliciting for and receiving bribes amounting to RM10,000 from an individual at the Kuala Lumpur Customs Warehousing Branch while being aware that the person had official connection with the Kuala Lumpur Customs director.

The offences were allegedly committed between May and August, 2014 in the Klang Valley.

Mohamad Fauzi, 33, also pleaded not guilty to three charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM4,200 as inducement not to interfere with liquor smuggling activities during the inspection operations, allegedly between last June and August in Kelana Jaya, Selangor.

Shamsul Anwar, 32, and Azlee, 48, jointly face two corruption charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM3,000 from an individual as inducement not to disturb that person's business.

The alleged offences, to which they pleaded not guilty, were committed between July and August, 2014 in Kelana Jaya, Selangor.

Jamaludin, 54, was charged with accepting a bribe of RM1,000 as inducement to provide information on Customs intelligence operations to an individual.

The offence was allegedly committed in March 2013 at an eatery in Subang Jaya.

Mohamed Rozlan, 57, faces two charges of accepting bribes amounting to RM2,200 as inducement not to inspect any business in which an individual had interest. The offences were committed between June 10 and 20, 2014 in Subang Jaya and Kelana Jaya.

All the charges againt the six accused were made under Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and Section 165 of the Penal Code.

Judge Datuk Noradidah Ahmad allowed Mohd Isa bail of RM25,000 in one surety, Muhamad Helmi RM20,000, Wan Azman RM15,000, Mohamad Fauzi RM10,000, Shamsul Anwar RM8,000, Mohamed Rozlan $8,000, Jamaludion RM5,000 and Azlee RM3,000, also in one surety each.

The accused were also ordered to surrender their passports to the court and all the cases will be rementioned on Oct 30.

Deputy public prosecutors Umar Saifuddin Jaafar and Mohd Heikal Ismail from the MACC appeared for the prosecution, while the accused were represented by lawyers Gabriel Susayan, Radehayati Johateh, Mona Hazratulaswati Fauzi, V.Kumaresan and Syed Ismat Syed Muhamad, among others.