IPOH (Bernama): A former administrative officer at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) was fined RM5,000 by the Sessions Court here on Friday (Sept 10) for corruption.

Judge S. Indra Nehru meted out the fine on Selamat Mulyono Juni, 37, who changed his not guilty plea to guilty when the case came up for mention today.

He paid the fine.

Selamat Mulyono was charged with corruptly obtaining gratification of RM1,500 for himself from one Shafrullah Abu Kasim as an inducement for him to not take action against a company, Khaffa Vision Enterprise, which continued to carry out oil palm trading despite its Dealer Fruit licence issued by MPOB having expired.

He was charged with committing the offence at a restaurant in Parit Buntar at 6.35pm on Oct 20 last year.

The charge was framed under Section 165 of the Penal Code, which provides an imprisonment for up to two years, or fine, or both, upon convction.

Prior to this, Selamat Mulyono was also charged with soliciting RM6,000 from the same man as an inducement to destroy evidence on the alleged offence by the company, but was taken into consideration (TIC) by the court in accordance with Section 171A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Maziyah Mansor while the accused was represented by lawyer Siti Salwani Md Shah.