SHAH ALAM, Malaysia - Nik Azan Nik Man, 31, was sentenced to five years' jail and fined RM20,000 (S$7,830), or 12 months' jail, for receiving bribes, while his colleague, Mohd Hasrul Che Othman, 28, was sentenced to two years' jail and fined RM20,000, or 12 months' jail, for abetting him.
At the same time, Indonesian Abdullah Busahlan, 43, was sentenced to 54 months' jail on charges of forgery and possessing passports belonging to other people.
The three accused pleaded guilty before judge M. Bakri Abd Majid.
Bakri said their actions had contributed to the rising number of illegal immigrants in the country.
He ordered that their sentences run consecutively from the date of arrest on Nov 20.
Nik Azan faced four charges of committing the offences between July and October in his capacity as an Immigration officer and receiving RM5,000 in bribes.
He received two amounts of RM400 from Abdullah, a runner for the department, at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang, as incentive for not take action against two "Indonesians", Hendrawan and Amrizal, who possessed passports that did not have a legal stamp of entry into the country.
The other two offences were committed at Petronas stations in Taman Kota Kemuning, Petaling Jaya, and Jalan Pekeliling Kargo, Sepang, where Nik Azan received RM1,850 and RM2,350 from Abdullah.
Hasrul was charged with two counts of abetment on Aug 28 in his capacity as an Immigration officer by allowing Hendrawan and Amrizal to possess passports devoid of a legal stamp of entry.
Abdullah faced two counts of forging passports and seven counts of possessing passports issued to seven others.
The offences took place between Aug 28 and Nov 20 at two locations, namely the LCCT departure hall and Lot 3736-A, Lorong Abullah, BT71/2, Jalan Kebun in Petaling Jaya.
Abdullah was nabbed after an undercover Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officer requested the services of the accused to prepare two Indonesian passports for his workers.
Deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais prosecuted, while the three accused were unrepresented
.jpg)
