Sabah civil servant, retired govt officer charged with bribery over land survey
Smith A. Lewas @ Simon, 56, and Lusiwoi Kisa, 62, pleaded not guilty after the charges were read separately before judge Jason Juga.
According to the charge sheet, Smith, who was then serving as a Grade J17 technician at the Kunak Assistant Collector of Land Revenue Office, had allegedly solicited a bribe of RM54,000 in cash from one Goefle Joseph, 39.
The money was allegedly intended as an inducement to process a new land application following a survey of land lots under the Smallholders Scheme in Madai Baturong, Kunak, involving Joseph's lot and 26 others.
The offence was allegedly committed at a studio in Kunak around 8pm in May 2016.
Meanwhile, Lusiwoi, who was then with the Sabah Land and Survey Department, was charged with soliciting a RM12,000 bribe from Cornilius Jomol @ Terence, 71.
The money was purportedly sought as inducement to conduct a land survey for a group led by Cornilius and 16 others, despite there being no available lots left for survey or application under the SPPKMB Kunak at the time.
Lusiwoi, who was then serving as an administrative assistant (Grade N17), in Kota Kinabalu, allegedly committed the offence in Lahad Datu in June 2016.
Both face charges under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, punishable under Section 24(1) of the same act.
If convicted, they could face up to 20 years' jail and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
Sabah MACC deputy public prosecutor Nurul Izzati Sapifee prosecuted while Smith was represented by lawyer Vivien Thien and Lusiwoi by Jhassery P. Kang.
Nurul Izzati earlier offered bail of RM8,000 and RM15,000 respectively, with one local surety each.
Additional conditions included reporting to the MACC once every two months, surrendering their passports to the court, and refraining from contacting or intimidating prosecution witnesses.
Jason set bail at RM10,000 for Smith and RM6,000 for Lusiwoi, each with one local surety, along with the additional conditions as requested by the prosecution.
The court fixed Sept 11 for case mention.
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