Assistant medical officers Junior Justin, 34, and Aemy Melanie Elon, 33, pleaded not guilty after they were charged separately before Kota Kinabalu sessions court judge Jason Juga.

Also charged were nurses Marvilta Michael Poudi, 35, Naliah Saliwat, 37, and Azrina Abd Azis, The Borneo Post reported.

The five are accused of either using forged documents or providing documents that were false or included false details, or both, at the Kota Kinabalu health office in Luyang sometime between 2020 and 2021.

Aemy was slapped with a total of 14 charges involving RM44,000 in false claims, while Junior faced nine charges for over RM35,000 in false claims.

Meanwhile, Naliah, Marvilta and Azrina were charged with making false claims of over RM29,000, RM24,000 and RM9,700 respectively.

All five accused were allowed to post bail at RM10,000 each with two sureties. The court fixed Jan 10, 2025 for case mention.

Lawyer Sylyester Kuan represented Marvilta and Azrina while the three others were unrepresented.