KUCHING: Two drugstore owners in Sarikei were fined RM15,000 each for trying to bribe a Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) enforcement officer last year.
SFC in a statement on Wednesday said the duo pleaded guilty to committing the offence on July 23 at an eatery by offering RM30,000 as an inducement for the enforcement officer to not take any action against them for illegally possessing protected animal parts under Section 29 of the Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998.
Both of the accused paid the fines.
“Integrity is one of our shared values that guide our everyday work as the custodian of parks and wildlife, and I value the high integrity of my staff,” said SFC chief executive officer Zolkipli Mohamad Aton in the statement while praising his officer for taking a stand against bribery in the enforcement operation.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, two Indonesian nationals were each sentenced to 21 months jail and fined a total of RM146,000 by Miri Sessions Court on Tuesday after they pleaded guilty to illegal possession of wild animals of various species.
SFC said on April 20, its enforcement officers arrested three Indonesian men at the coastal road near Bakam for possessing 68 wild animals of various species without a licence.
Two of them were charged under section 29(2) and 37(2)(c) of the Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998 with having 68 wild birds without a licence from the Wildlife controller, while the other one was taken to the Immigration Department for further investigation.
