KUALA TERENGGANU, Nov 18- Nine individuals including three logistics company owners were charged in the Kuala Terengganu Sessions Court today for the offense of possessing 34,740 litres of diesel oil for retail or wholesale purposes without a license.
The accused, aged between 29 and 63, however pleaded not guilty after the charges against them were read before judge Mohd Zul Zakiqudin Zulkifli.
The offense was allegedly committed between 1.55am and 9.30am in three different locations near Kuala Paka and Kampung Cacar, Paka in Dungun on July, 6.
Based on the charges of the three company owners, namely Hasdi Mustapa, 43 years old, Hirool Farihan Hussin, 41 years old and Abd Mukmin A. Razak, 36 years old, as the owner of the HMH Truck company, they were found to be suspiciously in possession of 29,070 litres of diesel, as controlled goods and a scheduled item, stored in a semi-trailer storage tank, in Kampung Cacar, Paka, Dungun on July 6 last year.
They are charged with committing an offense under Section 22 of the Control of Supplies Act 1961 and can be penalised under Section 22(1) of the same act which carries a fine of not more than RM1 million or a maximum imprisonment of three years or both.
While the other six accused, namely Azni Zabar 39 years old, Mohd Luqman Ramli, 31 years old, Hasrul Azly Mustapa, 32 years old, Mohamad Saufi Abdull Ghapa 29 years old, Mohd Rozi Mohd Zain 38 years old and Che Harun Mat Jusoh 63 years old were charged according to the same section.
All of them are alleged to have the remaining 5,669.66 litres of diesel oil stored in vehicle tanks and extra plastic tanks at two gas stations around Paka, on the same date.
If convicted, the accused faces a fine not exceeding RM1 million or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both.
For the second and subsequent offences, the accused faces a fine of not more than 3 million or imprisonment of not more than five years or both.
The court then allowed the accused to be bailed between RM3,000 and RM8,000 with a total bail of RM57,000.
The accused is also not allowed to interfere with prosecution witnesses and the case was set for mention on December, 18.
The prosecution for the case was handled by KPDN Deputy Prosecutor, Wan Mohd I'zzat Wan Abdullah while the accused was represented by lawyers Mohamad Zaiful Bahrin Kamde and Mohd Aiman Ariff Mohd Zaida.