KUCHING: The Special Court of Corruption Judge yesterday fixed 28 April for further mention of the graft cases involving six officers of the Sarawak Immigration Department.
The Judge, Nixon Kennedy Kumbong, set the date during the first mention of the cases at the Special Court of Corruption here.
In the first mention of the cases, all six accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Agnes James Daim, 42, Gracy Bohan, 35, Emily Ngayan Beliang, 36, Norhaliza Hussein, 33, Benjamin Morsit, 33, and Khairul Nizam Omar, 41, were charged with graft under Section 165 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of up to two years or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
They were alleged to have accepted bribes from April last year until January this year.
Agnes was represented by lawyers, Roger Chin and Hani Iryani Bonay. Lawyer, Roger Chin also represented Emily.
Meanwhile, Norhaliza was represented by lawyer, Osman Ibrahim while Gracy was represented by lawyer, Francis Wee. Both Benjamin and Kahirul Nizam were unrepresented.
The six accused were released on bails valued between RM5,000 and RM8,000 each with one surety.
The court set that the surety must be working in Kuching and should have a minimum income of RM1,000 a month
Last month, the Kuching Magistrate Court issued a remand order of seven days for 11 Sarawak Immigration Officers to assist in investigations related with allegations of corruption.
The remand order was issued by Magistrate Zulhairil Sulaiman after the remand application was submitted by the Investigating Officer of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Mohd Asri Abu Bakar.
In an operation conducted by MACC, 11 Immigration officers, comprising five men and six women aged between 33 and 53 years old, were arrested for allegedly accepting bribes of between RM100 and RM5,000 for the protection of immigrants who did not have travel documents and valid working permits.
During the operation, MACC also seized cash money valued about RM10,000 from one of the arrested suspects.
