Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum has been implicated in a corruption case involving a company director who was charged today in the Johor Baru Sessions Court.

The company director, 52-year-old Mohd Ismail Abdullah, was charged this morning with four counts of receiving bribes totalling RM119,000.

He has purportedly received the money for Johari ( photo ), the minister’s senior private secretary and another person.

According to a Bernama report, Mohd Ismail is alleged to have received the money from Chong Kor Yong, 49, through a company account as an inducement to help ensure a restrictive order is not made on Chong Tzeng Hang under an Emergency Ordinance.

The charges preferred against Mohd Ismail are:

• Receiving RM100,000 purportedly for Johari and the Kubang Pasu Umno at 10.15am on March 6 at the a bank in Taman Sentosa;

• Receiving RM10,000 purportedly for Shaharuddin Abu Sohot, the senior private secretary of Johari, at 2.22pm on Feb 27 at the same bank in Taman Sri Bahagian, Jalan Tampoi in Johor Baru;

• Receiving RM5,000 purportedly for Rosli Abdul Malik at 3.55pm on Feb 28 at a bank in Taman Sentosa here;

• Receiving RM4,000 at 10.15am on March 6 at the same bank in Taman Sentosa.

'Don't know him'

However when contacted, Johari denied any wrongdoing, saying that he does not know Mohd Ismail.

“This has got nothing to do with me,” he said.

Mohd Ismail was charged under Section 10(a)(aa) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

If convicted, Ismail is liable to a jail term of between 14 days and 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000 whichever is the higher.

He claimed trial before Judge Mohd Fauzi Mohd Nasir who fixed April 16 for trial.

Deputy public prosecutor Ng Siew Wee recommended bail of RM50,000 and requested for Ismail's passport to be impounded.

Defence lawyer Rosdi Amir, however, pleaded for RM5,000 bail with one surety for each charge.

Fauzi set the bail at RM40,000 with one surety and ordered Ismail to surrender his passport to the court. Mohd Ismail posted bail at 5pm.

In March this year, Johari was alleged in an Internet posting to have accepted more than RM5 million in bribes to free a number of detainees linked to organised crime in the 'freedom for sale' scandal .