Bribery: Former district forestry officer fined RM70,000, ordered to return RM3.8 million to govt

A former Hulu Perak district forestry department officer was fined RM70000 in default seven months' jail by the Sessions Court yesterday after he pleaded guilty of accepting RM100000 bribe from a timber contractor three years ago.

Judge Rihaida Rafie also ordered cash of RM768970 found during a raid on Amir Sharifud-din house, along with the money totalling RM3103,324.71 in 12 accounts belonging to his wife and their four children, to be returned to the government.

The judge made the decision after Amir Sharifud-din changed his plea to guilty when the case was brought up for mention today.

Amir Sharifud-din, 61, admitted to have accepted the bribe from Ismail Abdul Manas in front of Kafe Bawang Merah at No 8281, Jalan Suda Bahagia, Gerik at 9 pm on Jan 3, 2012, in Gerik, in his capacity as a public officer.

On Feb 1, 2013, he claimed trial to 12 counts of accepting bribe of RM390000 from two timber contractors between April 2010 and January 2012.

On Sept 26, Amir Sharifud-din was also charged with failing to hand over a sworn declaration to explain his extraordinary wealth.

With his guilty plea, the prosecution withdrew the remaining 13 charges against him.

In mitigation, Amir Sharifud-din's counsel, Saw Hoe Teck, asked the court to reduce the fine on grounds that his client was suffering from bipolar affective disorder and was still under treatment.

"My client and his wife are not working. The money in their accounts has been stripped out. Please consider a lower fine," he said.