KUALA LUMPUR – Former KL City Hall (DBKL) senior deputy director Sabudin Mohd Salleh was sentenced to four years in prison and fined RM1 million by the high court here today on two charges of obtaining bribes amounting to RM200,000 for issuing work permits to a subcontractor.
Judge K. Muniandy meted out the sentence after allowing the prosecution’s appeal to set aside the September 15, 2022, decision of the sessions court to free Sabudin, 62, of both corruption charges.
He ordered the four-year prison sentence for each count to run concurrently, effective today, and the RM1 million fine, in default four years imprisonment.
Judge Muniandy allowed the application of Sabudin’s lawyer, K. Theivaendran, to stay the execution pending his appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Earlier, during submission, deputy public prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin, assisted by DPP Natrah Fareha Rahmat, requested a 10-year prison sentence and a fine of RM1 million, taking into account public interest and the seriousness of the offence as it involved corruption.
On December 18, 2020, the sessions court freed Sabudin of the two charges at the end of the prosecution case, but on March 24, 2022, he was ordered to enter his defence by the high court, allowing the prosecution’s appeal to set aside the sessions court’s decision.
Sabudin was charged with obtaining bribes amounting to RM200,000 from Wong May Kuan, a subcontractor for Dusari Niaga, while he was senior deputy director of DBKL’s civil engineering and urban transport department.
Dusari Niaga was carrying out road resurfacing works in Kuala Lumpur from 2018 to 2020, and the bribes were an inducement to issue work permits for the company.
The charges under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009 are punishable by imprisonment of up to 20 years and a fine of five times the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction. – August 15, 2023