Civil servant ordered to enter defence over tender abuse charges
KOTA KINABALU (April 23): A civil servant was ordered to enter her defence by a Sessions Court here on Wednesday for two charges of abusing her power over food supply tender.
In his reserved ruling, judge Jason Juga made the order on Monica Gualin, 52, after he ruled that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against the accused.
On the first to the second counts, the charges stated that Monica as an Assistant District Officer (Administration) Grade N29, had allegedly used her position to obtain a RM15,000 bribe for herself and RM34,980 for her relative in March 2020 in Kuala Penyu.
Monica had allegedly proposed her relative's company to carry out food and beverage supply tender for frontline officers during the Covid-19 Movement Control Order (MCO) period in Kuala Penyu.
The two charges were under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, punishable under Section 24 of the same Act.
If found guilty, she is liable to a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount involved or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
The court fixed July 7-8 for her to enter her defence.
Monica, who was represented by counsel Datuk Norbert Chin, is currently released on RM10,000 bail with RM5,000 deposit and one local surety.
Her counsel told the court that the defence will produce two witnesses, including the accused, for the defence trial.
During the prosecution stage, 11 witnesses were called to give their evidence against Monica.
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