ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CHAMBERS PRESS RELEASE
8th January 2025
PUBLIC PROSECUTOR V
WARDER 724 MOHAMMAD AZIZAN BIN LIUSIN
Senior Magistrate Dewi Norlelawati binti Haji Abdul Hamid sentenced Warder 724 Mohammad Azizan bin Liusin to 24 months in prison on 7th January 2025, after his guilty pleas to two charges under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 131. The defendant, aged 33, was convicted of the two charges for accepting payments to facilitate unauthorised communication between a prisoner in Maraburong Prison and individuals outside the said prison.
Investigations by the Anti-Corruption Bureau revealed that, in November and December 2020, the defendant had accepted payments of BND $600 and BND $50, respectively, in exchange for conveying letters between an inmate in Maraburong Prison and the inmate's family members and business associate.
In her sentencing remarks, the Senior Magistrate highlighted the integral role of prison in maintaining order and security. She further underscored the serious nature of the offence committed by the defendant stating that if corruption is practiced by those responsible in prison rehabilitation, it would undoubtedly cause the loss of public confidence and trust of the prison institution, as well as eroding the morale of honest prison officers.
In deciding her sentence, the Senior Magistrate noted that deterrent sentences were necessary to convey the court's zero-tolerance stance on corruption so as to ensure the integrity of the prison institution.
The court, having considered the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case, guided by the precedents set in previous similar cases, sentenced the defendant to a starting point of 18-months' imprisonment for each of the charges. Consequently, the court reduced the sentences of 18 months to 12 months on each charge and, given the separate occasions on which the offences were committed, ordered for the sentences to run consecutively; amounting to 24 months in total. The sentence was subsequently ordered to take effect from the 31st of December 2024, the date of the defendant's guilty plea.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Firdaus bin Mohammad.
Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act penalizes individuals who accept gratification in connection with their principal's affairs or business, with punishments including fines and imprisonment of up to seven years.
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