A magistrate was sentenced to six years' jail and fined RM40,000 by the Sessions Court in Kota Baharu, on two counts of bribery.

Mohd Firdaus Ramlan, 28, was found guilty of soliciting and accepting bribes totalling RM8,000, as an inducement to reduce a man's punishment for a crime.

He had served as magistrate at both the Machang and Kuala Krai magistrate courts.

On the first count, Mohd Firdaus was charged with accepting a RM3,000 bribe from Md Shani Ishak at an Esso station in Machang about 10.30pm on Oct 11 last year, as an inducement to set the latter free from a criminal charge.

For this offence, Judge Sabariah Othman sentenced Mohd Firdaus to three years' jail and imposed a RM15,000 fine in default a year's jail.

On the second count, Mohd Firdaus was found guilty of soliciting a RM5,000 bribe from Md Shani for the same purpose at a magistrate's room at the Kuala Krai magistrate court here on Oct 6, and was sentenced to three years' jail and fined RM25,000 in default 18 months' jail.

The charges were made under Section 17 (A) and Section 16(a)(A) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, respectively.

Sabariah, however, granted a stay of execution of the jail sentences, pending appeal and allowed Mohd Firdaus an RM8,000 bail in one surety.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Abdul Razak Musa appeared for the MACC while Mohd Firdaus was represented by Shukri Mohammed.

- Bernama