Friday May 2, 2008 MYT 4:07:29 PM

Perak Syariah chief prosecutor charged with corruption

By CHAN LI LEEN

IPOH: Perak Syariah Court chief prosecuting officer Shahrunnazri Abdul Samad claimed trial to four charges of allegedly soliciting and accepting bribes amounting to RM5,000.

Shahrunnazri, 39, was charged with corruptly soliciting RM5,000 from one Mohamad Asri Bakar as an inducement not to press charges against the latter in a khalwat case.

He had allegedly committed the offence at Restoran Capati Medan Gopeng in Medan Gopeng here on July 29, 2007, at about 11am.

He is also said to have accepted RM1,000 deposited into his bank account by Mohamad Asri on Aug 1, 2007, and another RM2,000 each on Aug 13 and Sept 25 the same year.

If convicted, he can be jailed up to 20 years, or fined not less than five times the value of the gratification or RM10,000, whichever amount is higher, for each charge.

Shahrunnazri, in asking the court to lower the RM25,000 bail amount suggested by Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) senior federal counsel Abdul Razak Musa, later told the court that the purpose of bail was to ensure that he attended proceedings.

"I have given full cooperation to the ACA during the process of their investigating this case.

"I was subsequently released on RM3,000 bail when investigations were completed and have not failed to report to the ACA and to renew bail each month," he said.

Shahrunnazri added that he had showed up in court on March 31 as subpoenaed to do so in the corruption trial of a Syariah high court judge.

"All this is proof that I will not abscond," he said.

Abdul Razak said the offences were serious, adding that Shahrunnazri being subpoenaed to court had nothing to do with the present case.

Judge Rasidah Chik set bail at RM15,000 in one surety and fixed May 22 for mention.

Shahrunnazri posted bail.