KOTA KINABALU: Five government healthcare workers including two assistant medical officers have claimed trial at the Special Corruption Court here to charges of providing false claims for overtime work.

The assistant medical officers Junior Justin, 34, and Aemy Melanie Elon, 33, as well as nurses Marvilta Michael Poudi, 35, Naliah Saliwat, 37, and Azrina Abd Azis, 36, all pleaded not guilty yesterday after the charges were read to them before Sessions Court judge Jason Juga.

They were accused of submitting falsified claims for overtime allowance at the Kota Kinabalu health office in Luyang here between 2020 and 2021.

Of the five, Aemy faced the most charges at 14 counts, with five under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 for providing documents that were false or contained false details, and nine under Section 471 of the Penal Code for using forged documents.

She was accused of submitting 14 false claims amounting to over RM44,000 for overtime work.

This was followed by Junior who faced nine charges, four under Section 471 of the Penal Code and five under Section 8 of the MACC Act 2009 for the more than RM35,000 in false claims he had submitted.

Naliah also faced nine charges, all coming under Section 471 of the Penal Code for the more than RM29,000 of claims she had put in.

Marvilta, who had submitted allegedly false claims of over RM24,000, faced eight charges under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009 while Azrina faced three charges under Section 471 of the Penal Code after submitting allegedly false claims of more than RM9,700.

Those found guilty under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009 face a maximum 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of not less than five times the value of the falsified amount, or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

As for offences under Section 471 of the Penal Code, which is punishable under Section 465 of the same Act, those convicted could be jailed for up to seven years, or fined, or both.

The court set a bail of RM10,000 for each of the accused, without deposit and with one local surety. All the accused posted bail.

The court set Jan 10 for mention.

The five accused were also instructed by the court to report to the nearest MACC office once every two months.

Prosecuting officer Nur Sabrina Ali and deputy public prosecutor Nurul Izzati Sapifee appeared for the MACC.

Marvilta and Azrina were represented by counsel Sylyester Kuan while the rest were not represented.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/09/13/healthcare-workers-in-dock-over-false-overtime-claims