Power thief nabbed for bribery

KUALA LUMPUR: A 60-year-old man was arrested yesterday for offering RM30,000 to a senior Tenaga Nasional Berhad officer for not taking action against him for stealing electricity supply.

The man, who owns a company based in Johor, was arrested at 1pm at a hotel in Petaling Jaya yesterday.Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull believed the suspect had been stealing electricity over a long period of time."We believe that the value of the stolen electricity is a substantial amount. "Although we are still trying to determine how long he has been doing this, the value of electricity stolen shows that he must have been doing it for some time," he told the New Straits Times.The man has been stealing electricity at his business premises, Shukri added.

"His company has a factory in Johor Baru, which is where he has been carrying on his activities. "The TNB officer declined the bribe and that was when the suspect was arrested."The case is being investigated under section 17(b) of the MACC Act 2009 which deals with offering bribes.At the "Let's Make a Change, Let's Fight Corruption" campaign on Monday, MACC chief commissioner Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed said the commission was now giving equal focus to bribe givers in its fight against corruption.

From 2000 until last year, 866 people were arrested for attempting to bribe civil servants and 90 per cent of them were from enforcement agencies.Since January, 16 have been brought to court or were waiting to be arrested.Under Section 17(b), those giving bribes can be jailed up to 20 years and fined not less than five times the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

Source: NST Newspaper Malaysia, 29 April 2010