Ridzuan Abdullah, 55, who owns Pupa International Sdn Bhd, was charged with submitting documents containing false information regarding salaries to claim incentives amounting to RM378,000.
The accused, who contested in the 15th general election under Pejuang, allegedly committed the offence at the Putrajaya Socso office between March 2 and April 2, 2021.
In the same court, the owner of Era Media Sdn Bhd, Lee Hong Rong, 23, was charged with committing the same offence at the Kuala Lumpur Socso office between April 23 and June 21, 2021, to claim incentives totalling RM1.9 million.
In a different sessions court, the owner of Minbot Sdn Bhd and Fireshot Marketing Sdn Bhd, Raymond Sim, 35, pleaded not guilty to submitting false claims amounting to RM152,200.
The offence was allegedly committed at the Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Socso offices between June 3 and Sept 15, 2021.
All the charges were framed under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.
The court allowed Ridzuan and Lee bail of RM25,000 each with one surety and ordered them to surrender their passports and report to the nearest MACC office every month.
Sim was released on RM30,000 bail with the same additional conditions.
The court also fixed March 2 and 3 and Feb 28, respectively, for mention of their cases.
Meanwhile, in Pahang, two traders pleaded not guilty at the Kuantan sessions court to submitting false claims for incentives under the Penjana Kerjaya 1.0 programme, totalling RM43,600, three years ago.
Arabath Ali Arul Alavudeen, 36, and Ismail R P Mohd Ibrahim, 62, were charged with committing the offence at the Temerloh Socso office on Oct 5 and 6, 2020.
Judge Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain fixed bail at RM18,000 for both the accused and ordered them to surrender their passports.
Last year, MACC said it arrested 45 people in different states on suspicion of making false claims and misappropriating Penjana Kerjaya funds.
They consisted of business owners, directors, managers, shareholders, engineers and executives.
The Penjana Kerjaya scheme, under the National Economic Recovery Plan following the pandemic, was aimed at increasing employment opportunities among job seekers.
MACC arrests 2 for submitting false claim
Meanwhile, in Shah Alam, MACC arrested two people for allegedly submitting false claims worth more than RM60,000 from 2020 till last year.
According to a source, the two, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 50s, were arrested at the Selangor MACC office here at 6.30pm today when they turned up to give a statement.
The two were the owner and chief supervisor of a cleaning services company believed to have made false claims for services rendered at a government building in Kuala Lumpur.
“They are believed to have submitted documents for false claims from 2020 to 2022 involving contracts worth more than RM4.2 million,” the source said.
Selangor MACC director Alias Salim confirmed the arrests.
The two suspects will be brought to the Shah Alam magistrates’ court here tomorrow morning to obtain a remand order.