Kuantan: A corporal with the police force began serving a nine-month jail term today after the Court of Appeal reinstated his conviction and sentence for accepting a RM700 bribe to release a suspect in a ketum water case.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, a three-judge panel, comprising Datuk Noorin Badaruddin, Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz, and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, also upheld the Sessions Court's order that Mohamed Syaffiq Mohamed Sidek, 36, pay a RM10,000 fine, or serve 12 months' jail in default.
The panel allowed the prosecution's cross-appeal and dismissed Mohamed Syaffiq's appeal against his conviction and sentence. He had previously obtained a stay of execution pending his appeal. Delivering the unanimous decision, Justice Noorin said the appellant had admitted to receiving the RM700 but failed to prove it was for any purpose other than graft.
Justice Noorin said the court had considered the full circumstances surrounding the transaction, notably that the money was handed over outside the police station, not in a social context, and that it came from the suspect's friend to the appellant. She noted that the receipt of the RM700 was not only supported by prosecution witnesses but also admitted by the appellant himself.
"Once the fact of receipt is established, the precondition under Section 50(1) is met, and the statutory presumption as to the nature and purpose of the payment arises," she said. On May 3, 2023, the Kuantan Sessions Court convicted Mohamed Syaffiq of accepting the bribe from Afiq Hidayatullah Hussin to release Muhammad Faiz Aiman Mohd Yusof for the possession of ketum water.
The offence was committed at the Kuantan Police Station, Jalan Mahkota, Kuantan, Pahang, between 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm on Dec 25, 2020. On Dec 9, 2025, the High Court allowed Mohamed Syaffiq's appeal, quashing his conviction and sentence under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, and substituting it with a conviction under Section 165 of the Penal Code, with a one-month jail term.
In today's proceedings, MACC deputy public prosecutors Dr. Ifa Sirrhu Samsudin and Ezuain Farhana Ahmad appeared for the prosecution. Lawyers Datuk Sukri Mohamed, Melissa Sukri, and Shahidah Muslimah Roslan represented Mohamed Syaffiq.