By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, July 30: An Immigration Department officer has been fined RM30,000 after being charged with failure to report graft worth RM109,600.
Dina Azanina Morshidi, 41, an Immigration Officer attached to the Immigration Control Division, Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA 2) Clearance Hall was given the total gratification of RM109,600 between 2016 and 2019.
In 2016, the accused started to accept work to release foreign nationals with various immigration offences such as overstaying, having a fake special pass, being blacklisted and refusing all immigration passengers through her counter while she was on duty at the KLIA International Gate 2 from Mohd Shah Ezywan Abd Rahman, who was also an Immigration Department Officer.
Shah Ezywan would send a list of Chinese national passport numbers via WhatsApp to the accused.
When the flight from China arrived, the accused will perform the passport checking procedure and if the passport numbers matched the passport number provided, the accused will endorse the entry of the foreign visitor without further questioning.
Shah Ezywan then will pay the accused for the completed tasks on every off day or the next shift via online transfer through a company that belonged to Shah Ezywan’s brother to the accused’s daughter’s bank account number.
In total, Shah Ezywan had made 22 transactions to the accused’s daughter’s bank account, amounting to RM109,600.
The accused admitted that her daughter had no access to the said bank account.
Upon investigation, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) revealed that the accused received money from Shah Ezywan for helping him to release foreign nationals with offenses while she was on duty at KLIA 2.
The accused used the money paid by Shah Ezywan to purchase various branded handbags worth RM15,000, jewelry worth RM10,000, an electric scooter worth RM1,800, a bicycle worth RM1,200, and a RM30,000 deposit for a vehicle.
The accused was charged with two alternative charges under Section 25(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 and punishable under Section 25(2) of the same Act, which carries a fine of up to RM100,000 or a maximum jail sentence of 10 years, or both.
Section 25(1) of the Act stipulates that anyone who is offered or given gratification shall report the action, and if available, name the person who gave or made the offer to the police or MACC.
The accused pleaded guilty to both charges that were read out to her before Sessions Court Judge Steve Ritikos.
Judge Steve Ritikos sentenced her to a fine of RM15,000 or in default to 10 months imprisonment for each charge and ordered jewelry worth RM10,000 and the sum of RM200,000.00 in the accused’s daughter’s bank account to be forfeited to the government of Malaysia.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nur Nisla Abdul Latif prosecuted while the accused was unrepresented by counsel. — DayakDaily
