SHAH ALAM: A businessman has claimed trial at the sessions court here to a charge of bribing an environment department (DoE) officer last year to halt investigations into e-waste and illegal disposal activities.
Goh Chin San pleaded not guilty after the charge, made under Section 17(b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act, was read to him before judge Awang Kerisnada Awang Mahmud.
He was accused of giving RM5,000 to a DoE officer so that the department would not take action against him for operating without a valid permit or written approval, using an unapproved environmental impact assessment report, and disposing of scheduled waste at an unauthorised location.
The offence allegedly took place at a factory in Kuala Selangor on May 22 last year.
Awang Kerisnada granted bail of RM12,000 with one surety and ordered Goh to surrender his passport pending trial. The case is set for case management on May 13.
In a separate case in the same court, Maheran Abd Malik, a supervisor from the Community Development Department, pleaded not guilty to eight charges of submitting false claims on a staff member’s performance assessment.
The employee in question failed to achieve his targeted performance and skipped work.
The alleged offence was said to have taken place between Sept 1, 2023 and April 30, 2024, at the department’s offices in Bandar Baru Bangi.
Maheran also faces eight alternative charges under Section 471 of the Penal Code for using the false performance assessments as genuine documents. She pleaded not guilty.
She was granted bail of RM10,000 with one surety and ordered to surrender her passport. Her case is also scheduled for case management on May 13.
