Highway authority’s ICT director charged with abuse of power

The Shah Alam sessions court allowed Norzuriati Zainol Rashid bail of RM35,000.

PETALING JAYA: An information technology director with the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) has been charged at the Shah Alam sessions court with two counts of abuse of power

Norzuriati Zainol Rashid, 44, was accused of recommending two companies linked to her husband for ICT-related projects at LLM in 2019 and 2020.

She pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out to her before judge Awang Kerisnada Awang Mahmud.

According to the first charge, Norzuriati was accused of using her position as a technical committee member to recommend a company linked to her husband, Syed Rosli Syed Mohd, 46, for an ICT service project to support and maintain an E-Latihan system with a tender priced at RM98,800.

As for the second charge, she was accused of abusing her power to acquire another ICT services project for an interim payment tracking system with the tender price of RM212,500.

She was charged under Section 23(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act (MACC) 2009 with abuse of power, which is punishable with a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of not more than five times the value of the bribe solicited, or RM10,000.

Meanwhile, Syed Rosli was also charged at the same court for conspiring with his wife to recommend a company for the E-Latihan project on Sept 12, 2019.

If found guilty under the MACC Act 2009, he could face imprisonment of up to 20 years and a fine of not more than five times the value of the bribe solicited.

He also pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him before judge Anita Harun.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutors Siti Amirah Ali and Afif Ali suggested bail of RM40,000 for Norzuriati and RM20,000 for her husband, as well as an order for them to surrender their passports and report to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya every month.

However, their lawyer Wan Juhrah Muntek requested a lower bail as her clients had been cooperative with the authorities throughout the investigation.

The court allowed bail of RM35,000 for Norzuriati and RM20,000 for Syed Rosli.

They are also barred from communicating with the witnesses as requested by the prosecution.

March 21 was fixed for case remention.