A police officer holding the rank of an Inspector in Sabah was slapped with a whopping fine of RM18,000 and jailed for a year after he was found guilty of a bribery charge today (June 20).
44-year-old Roney Saimeh Sakah was handed the sentence by the Special Corruption Sessions Court in Tawau after the defense failed to challenge the statutory presumption under Section 50(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act (MACC) 2009 on the balance of probabilities for one charge under Section 17(a) of the same act, reported NST.
M’sian police inspector jailed 1 year, fined RM18,000 for bribery
According to the charge sheet, Roney was accused of soliciting RM3,500 worth of bribes from Rostam Arsad in April 2017 at the Traffic Branch Office of the Lahad Datu district police headquarters.
This was in exchange for not having a car accident case being probed under Section 41 of the Road Transport Act 1987 and to avoid it being charged in court.
Roney, who has been serving in the police force since 2001, was later brought to court Feb 20, 2020, where the full trial officially began on March 8, 2023.
He was charged under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009, which is punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, where he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher if convicted.
In his argument, MACC Prosecutor Dzulkarnain Rousan Hasbi said Roney’s actions had greatly tarnished the police’s image, adding that it had left a deep impact on society given his responsibility to “combat crime and uphold the law”.
Judge Jason Juga later sentenced Roney to a year in jail and fined him RM18,000, on top of which he faces an additional three months’ imprisonment if he failed to pay it.
During mitigation, Roney’s attorney Zahir Shah pleaded for a lighter sentence, saying that his client currently faces financial problems and had to support his wife and child.
He also asked for a stay of execution while the defense files an appeal against the conviction and sentence at the High Court.
While Judge Jaga granted the request for a stay of execution of the prison sentence, he ordered Roney to pay the fine on the same day and that the appeal be filed within 14 days from the date of the conviction.
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