The Sessions Court today imposed a two-year jail term and a RM30,000 fine on a police officer and a businessman after finding them guilty of having accepted a RM3,000 bribe from a food outlet operator who had allegedly engaged foreign workers without a work permit.

Judge Abu Bakar Katar made the decision after finding that the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case against Insp V Vijayan of the Brickfields Police Station and Anthony Michael Joseph.

He allowed a stay of execution pending appeal.

On the first charge, Vijayan, 31, and Anthony, 43, both represented by counsel V Aravindhakshan, had allegedly agreed to accept the bribe from S Ganeswaran as an inducement to refrain from acting against him for engaging two Indonesian workers without a work permit, at Block 17, Taman Setapak Indah here between 1pm and 2pm on 20 August 2004.

On the second charge, they had allegedly accepted the bribe from Ganeswaran at the Shell service station in Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Brickfields, at 9.40pm on the same day.

Abu Bakar imposed a two-year jail sentence and a fine of RM15,000 on Vijayan and Anthony for each of the charges, and ordered that they serve the sentence concurrently.

The prosecution, conducted by deputy public prosecutor Fadzillah Mohd Osman, introduced 16 witnesses while the defence called two.

- Bernama