GROUNDS OF JUDGMENT

The two respondents were, at the material time, Police Officers: the first respondent being a Lance Corporal, L/Cpl. Romanus Clement Ungkin (Romanus) and the second respondent being an Inspector, Insp. Rechi a/k John Chuhing (Rechi). They were both attached to the Crime Section of the Royal Malaysian Police, Federal Territory of Labuan. In the Sessions Court, Romanus faced two charges under section 11(a) of the Anti Corruption Act, 1997 : the first was against him alone while in the second charge he was charged jointly with Rechi. In the event, Romanus was convicted on the 1st charge and was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment and a fine of RM10,000 in default 6 months imprisonment. Both Romanus and Rechi were "discharged and acquitted" on the 2nd charge. It is against this decision that the Public Prosecutor is now appealing.

The 2nd charge reads as follows:-

"That you both jointly on 20th October, 1998 at around 3 pm at Chow Shiu Mechanical Engineering Workshop, Lot B2, Jalan Arsat, in the Federal Territory of Labuan, as an agent of the Government of Malaysia, to wit a Crime Section Police Officer, Labuan Police Contingent Headquarters, in furtherance of a common i