A former senior general manager of Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd has claimed trial in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court to two more charges of corruption, this time involving luxury watches.

Mohd Zaki Othman, 48, is charged with soliciting a IWC watch worth RM32,980 from a contractor, at the The Hour Glass Sdn Bhd, Lot 10, Jalan Sultan Ismail, some time between 1.30 pm and 2.30pm on March 13, 2009.

He is alleged to have asked for the watch in return for assisting the contractor to obtain a Letter of Award for a sub-contract project in the Kumang and Tangga Barat Cluster Development Project Phase 1.

Mohd Othman, based in Pasir Gudang. Johor, is also charged with obtaining a Hublot watch worth RM60,000 at the same place about 10am on May 15, 2009.

DPP Nik Azrin Nik Abdullah of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission applied for bail to be set at RM20,000.

However, defence counsel Vijaya Sandran applied for this to be reduced to RM5,000 on each charge, as the accused is jobless.

"His services were terminated last month. I also want to bring to the court's attention that the accused has returned the watches and that a police report was made,” he said.

"Hence, we apply that this be taken into consideration in reducing the bail.”

Judge Rozilah Salleh set bail at RM20,000 for both charges and fixed Feb 11 for mention.

She also placed a gag order on the media not to report the name of the contractor or company.

On Jan 3, he had pleaded not guilty to two counts of corruption involving RM55,300 worth of items.

One more charge

At the Shah Alam Sessions Court later, Mohd Zaki claimed trial to one count of corruption.

He was charged with seeking RM30,600 as payment for furniture which included an imported dinner table and a 'Cleopatra set' from the same contractor.

This was for the contractor's company to obtain a letter of intent dated Jan 11, 2008 for the project which costs RM23.9 million.

Mohd Zaki had allegedly asked for the furniture at the Europa House Furniture Expo Sdn Bhd, at Jalan University, Petaling Jaya on Nov 28, 2007.

Shah Alam Sessions judge Mat Ghani Abdullah set bail at RM10,000 with one surety.