BUTTERWORTH: A Road Trans­port Department (JPJ) officer is facing a total of 660 years of imprisonment if found guilty of 33 charges of bribery.

JPJ assistant enforcement officer Muhammad Firdaus Jaafar, 46, claimed trial to the charges at the Sessions Court here yesterday.

Calm and composed as he patiently heard each charge read out to him, he pleaded not guilty to each of the 33 charges of receiving bribes amounting to RM10,950 between 2015 and 2018.

He was charged under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commis­sion (MACC) Act 2009 which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years, a fine of not less than five times the amount of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher, if found guilty.

During mitigation for bail, his lawyer Ashvinder Kaur said Mu­­ham­mad Firdaus had been working with JPJ for 25 years.

She added that he was the sole breadwinner for his three school-going children and was also looking after his wife, mother and mother-in-law.

Judge Nizam Zakaria set bail at RM20,000 with one surety.

Former Land Public Transport Commission officer Mohd Noor Fadzny Noordin, who faces 600 years’ imprisonment – if convicted – for 30 counts of bribery amounting to RM14,250, was also granted RM20,000 bail after claiming trial.

Seven other JPJ officers were charged with similar offences yesterday.

They are JPJ officers Katimi Azmi, 35, who is charged with 11 counts of bribery; Khairol Naim Mat Desa, 34, who is charged with 13 counts of bribery; Pirdaus Abd Karim, 34, who is charged with 13 counts of bribery; Mohd Fairdaus Ishak, 35, who is charged with 15 counts of bribery; M. Muniandy, 45, who is charged with 15 counts of bribery; Muhamad Syukri Ishak, 36, who is charged with 16 counts of bribery, and Noorzaimi Effendi Salleh, 36, who is charged with 18 counts of bribery.

The bribes, totalling more than RM136,000, were received between 2015 and 2018.

Bail was set at RM1,000 per charge for each of the remaining seven officers with one surety each.

All nine were told to surrender their passports to the court and July 2 has been set for case management.Earlier, The Star reported that a lorry protection racket involving JPJ personnel had been uncovered after the MACC arrested 24 officers in April.

The bribes were inducement to not take action against lorry companies that committed traffic offences.

The payments were also for tip-offs which companies and drivers received about JPJ operations.

Those who paid the “protection” money would be given special logos to display on their windscreens for JPJ officers to identify them.