Negeri Sembilan’s Lenggeng assemblyman Mustafa Salim was today found guilty by the Seremban Sessions Court of accepting a RM2,000 bribe from a contractor, two years ago.

Judge Amran Jantan set April 1 for sentencing.

NONE Mustafa, 51 ( right ), was charged under Section 10 (a) (aa) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 which provides for jail from 14 days to 20 years and minimum fine of RM10,000 or five times the corrupt amount, if convicted.

The court found him guilty of accepting the bribe from M Manimaran at Restoran Jahrin Maju, Taman Bunga Raya 2, Mantin near Seremban at 5pm on Aug 31, 2008.

The bribe was to be an inducement for a supporting letter from the accused to enable the contractor to get a sand mining permit.

In his judgment, Amran said the court did not buy the accused’s contention that he felt uneasy during the bribe transaction.

Instead, he said, the accused did not take any proactive action not to accept the money kept in an envelope but was smoking a cigarette, touching the money and having a casual conversation with the contractor.

In mitigation, counsel Feisal Mustapha and Taqiyuddin Yahya, who represented the accused, urged to court to impose a light sentence considering it was his first offence.

Furthermore, they said, one of the accused’s children was disabled and had become distraught on learning that he (Mustafa) had been found guilty of the offence.

They also urged the court to consider Mustafa’s reputation as a public figure and the fact that he had to care for his family, whereby four of his five children were still schooling.

‘Mustafa should have been a role model’

However, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission deputy public prosecutor  Kevin Morais in pressing for a deterrent sentence said being a public figure, Mustafa should have been a role model for others.

He cited as an example the corruption case of former Selangor menteri besar Harun Idris in 1976.

Justice Raja Azlan Shah in sentencing him to six years jail then had stated that a person’s status was of no consequence when it came to handing down court punishment.

“Being an assemblyman and a former teacher, he can be deemed a a pillar of society and should serve as an example for others to follow,” said Morais, adding that the case happened hardly five months after Mustafa was elected assemblyman of Lenggeng.

The accused, however, was acquitted and discharged of two other counts of soliciting bribes of RM3,000 and RM2,000 from the same contractor for the same purpose.

The defence was able to prove that the money was actually donations for an orphanage and old folks home respectively.

- Bernama