A FORMER deputy general manager of the Sepang Farmers Area Organisation claimed trial in the Shah Alam Sessions Court today to two charges of soliciting bribes amounting to RM6,000 in connection with the 2021 Food Guarantee Fund Programme.

On both charges, Mohd Asyraf Mohd Fauzi, 36, was charged with corruptly asking for money from a 39-year-old local man as an incentive to help him obtain cleaning work and for the supply of sugar cane seedlings in connection with the 2021 Food Guarantee Fund Project for sugar cane farming.

He was alleged to have committed the offences at a restaurant in Kampung Giching, Sepang in September 2021.

The charges, under section 16(a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, carry a maximum 20 years’ jail and a fine of not less than five times the amount or value of the bribe that is the subject of the offence, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

Judge Rozilah Salleh set bail at RM8,000 with one surety and ordered Asyraf to surrender his passport to court and report himself to a MACC office.

She also set May 24 for mention.

Deputy public prosecutor Muaz Ahmad Khairuddin prosecuted, while lawyer Ahmad Saleh represented the accused. – Bernama, April 11, 2023.