Senior firefighter sentenced to three years in prison for abuse of power

KUALA TERENGGANU: A senior deputy fire commander has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined RM172,000 after being found guilty of abuse of power.

Mohd Roslan Zakaria, 41, was found guilty by the court on three counts of abuse of power for proposing to his family's companies to carry out utility work worth RM32,540.

Judge Dazuki Ali imposed the sentence after ruling that the prosecution had succeeded in proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

According to the prosecution, Mohd Roslan was accused of abusing his position as a public servant by submitting a bid from his mother-in-law's company, Pak Su Global Enterprise, for supply work of 60 antenna units and 30 charger spare parts worth RM8,100.

The father of three was also charged with the same offence for submitting two tenders from his brother-in-law's company, Muazzam Global Enterprise: one for the supply of 31 units of Compas Orienting worth RM7,440 and another for 10 units of life jackets and 20 units of wetsuits worth RM17,000.

He was accused of committing the offences in July and November 2016 at the Eastern Region Malaysian Fire and Rescue Academy in Marang.

The charge was brought under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act (MACC) and is punishable under Section 24(1) of the same Act, which provides for a prison sentence of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

Dazuki sentenced Mohd Roslan to two years' imprisonment and a fine of RM42,000 for the first charge, two years' imprisonment and a fine of RM40,000 for the second charge and three years' imprisonment and a fine of RM90,000 for the third charge.

The court also ordered the accused to serve an additional two years in prison if he fails to pay the fines, Bernama reported.

The judge also ordered that the prison sentences be served concurrently starting today.

He granted a stay of execution pending an appeal to the Supreme Court, but did not allow a suspension of the fines.