A MARINE police corporal was charged today in the Ipoh Sessions Court with 43 counts of accepting bribes amounting to RM146,350.

Zubairi Abdul Mutalib, 60, pleaded not guilty to all the charges before judge Priscilla Hemamalini.

Zubairi, who is head of the PSC 16 Patrol Vessel Machinery at the marine police base in Kg Acheh, Sitiawan, was charged with taking RM146,350 in bribes from one Lim Mee Lan as inducement not to take action against the owner of 18 vessels who had violated the Fisheries Act 1985.

Zubairi is accused of accepting the amount in bribes between May 1, 2016 and July 30, 2019.

The offence, under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, is punishable by a maximum 20 years in jail, jail term of up to 20 years and RM10,000 fine or not less than five times the sum of the bribe, whichever is higher.

Priscilla allowed Zubairi bail at RM25,000 for all charges.

Nurul Wahida Jalaluddin was the deputy public prosecutor from MACC while the accused was represented by lawyer Muhammad Aizat Fakri.

Zubairi is expected to be charged with 101 similar charges tomorrow. – Bernama, January 26, 2021.