Fadley Faisal
The case of seven officers and personnel of the Royal Customs and Excise Department (RCED) involved in allegations of a scandal yesterday came up in the Intermediate Court again.
Deputy Superintendent of Customs Pengiran Mohd Amir Ilham bin Pengiran Haji Yusop, who was the Deputy Head of the Assets and Logistics Management Unit, and Inspection Officer Pengiran Ehsaney Mohammad Mustaffa bin Pengiran Jalil, Deputy Superintendent of Customs and Head of Assets and Logistics Management Unit Abu Talip bin Haji Awang Tengah, Customs officers Dayangku Harlizan binti Pengiran Zainal and Muhammad Nazirul Mubin bin Ismail, Customs Inspection Officer Muhammad Khairul Zaman bin Haji A Said and Customs personnel Marsidi bin Haji Bakir face charges of corruption, conspiring to commit criminal breach of trust and misuse of public office.
All of the defendants, but Marsidi, hired defence counsels and introduced their representatives in court.
Prosecutor Khalilah Hussin revealed in court that the case is a result of an arrest by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a joint operation with other security agencies between September 8 and October 4.
The operation is associated with information received by the ACB that RCED officers committed offences of selling items seized and kept at the RCED warehouse in Muara, some of which had been ordered for disposal.
Judge Harnita Zelda Skinner adjourned the case to February 9, 2023 seeing that the newly appointed counsels needed time to look into their clients’ cases.
The counsels hired by the six defendants were from Messrs Yusof Halim & Partners, Ridzlan Lim, Abrahams Davidson & Co, Yu & Chiew and Pengiran Izad & Lee.
