KUCHING, April 28: Two drugstore owners in Sarikei were fined RM15,000 each for trying to bribe a Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) enforcement officer last year.
They pleaded guilty to committing the offence between 10am and 11am on July 23, 2020 at an eatery near RTM by offering RM30,000 as an inducement for a SFC enforcement officer not to take any action against them for illegally possessing protected animal parts under Section 29 of the Wild Life Protection Ordinance, 1998. Both accused paid their fines.
SFC chief executive officer Zolkipli Mohamad Aton praised the officer for taking a stand against bribery in the enforcement operation.
“Integrity is one of our shared values that guide our everyday work as the custodian of parks and wildlife, and I value the high integrity of my staff,” he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, in another case, two Indonesians were sentenced to 21 months in jail and fined RM146,000 by the Miri Sessions Court yesterday after pleading guilty to illegal possession of wild animals of various species.
On April 20, Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) enforcement officers arrested three Indonesian men at the coastal road near the Bakam area after they were suspected of possessing 68 wild animals of various species without a licence.
Two of them were charged under Section 29(2) and 37(2)(c) of the Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998, while the other one was taken to the Immigration Department for further investigation.
For the first charged under section 29(2), they were sentenced to nine months in prison and fined RM10,000 in default three months’ jail. For the second charge under Section 37(2)(c), they were sentenced to 12 months in prison and fines totaling RM136,000 in default four months in prison for having 68 wild birds without a licence from the Controller of Wild Life.
Both jail sentences are to run concurrently from the date of their arrest, and they will be handed over to the Immigration Department for deportation. — DayakDaily
