Acting Senior Magistrate Dewi Norlelawati binti Haji Abdul Hamid yesterday found prison warden Asmali bin Abdullah guilty of receiving bribes and leaking information.
Deputy public prosecutor Pengiran Hajah Nor Azmeena binti Pengiran Haji Mohiddin’s evidence revealed at the time of commission of the offences, the defendant was working as a warden with the Prisons Department at the Ministry of Home Affairs. Investigations further unveiled that the defendant had received gratifications amounting to BND300 on March 13, 2022 and April 26, 2022.
The gratifications were received from two persons, who are family members of two prisoners serving their prison sentence at the time.
The bribes were an inducement or reward for allowing, without authorised permission, two prisoners to communicate with persons outside of prison using the defendant’s mobile phone. It was also revealed the defendant had also conveyed communication without lawful authority to one of the prisoners which is in contravention of 329(q), Chapter 51 of the Prisons Rule under the Prisons Act.
The prosecution called 11 witnesses while the defendant, who was unrepresented, gave evidence without calling any other witnesses.
The court reserved June 23 to hand down sentence. – Fadley Faisal
