Judge Zulhazmi Abdullah meted out the sentence to Badaruddin Mohamed, 57, while his younger brother Mustafa Kamal, 50, was also handed the same punishment for abetting his sibling.

The court came to the decision after finding that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt at the end of the prosecution’s case against the nine charges faced by the siblings.

Zulhazmi also ordered the duo to be jailed for six months if they failed to pay the fine.

However, the court allowed the application for a stay of execution of the sentence pending an appeal of the conviction.

The court also ordered that their passports be impounded and for the duo to report to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office every month until their appeals were disposed of.

On Oct 30, 2018, Badaruddin was charged with nine counts of abuse of power and to obtain gratification for Mustafa.

The first seven charges were for abusing his position as USM communications strategic office director by approving his brother’s company Syarikat MK Urusniaga (M) Sdn Bhd to be the supplier of various items and souvenirs totaling RM153,793 to the USM communications strategic office between Sept 23, 2011 and Nov 23, 2012.

As for the eighth and ninth charges, Badaruddin was accused of using his position as head of USM’s Sustainable Tourism Research Cluster (STRC) to approve Mustafa’s company to supply 30 units of glass souvenirs worth RM3,450 and office biometric equipment worth RM2,920 to STRC between Sept 5, 2011 and May 14, 2012.

For all nine counts, Badaruddin was charged under sub-section 23(1) of the MACC Act 2009 while Mustafa was charged with nine counts of abetting his brother under Section 28 (1) (c) of the same act.

Earlier, MACC prosecuting officer Azlan Basri urged the court to mete out a deterrent sentence to reflect the seriousness of the offence. Counsel for the brothers, Shamsul Sulaiman, however, asked that the court not impose a heavy sentence as his clients had families to support.