Kota Kinabalu: A 50-year-old woman was fined a total of RM60,000 for allowing 12 illegal immigrants to remain in her premises.
Sessions Court Judge Azreena Aziz handed the sentence to Ng Jin Jin who pleaded guilty to the charge against him on Monday.
Ng was ordered to pay RM5,000 or two months’ jail for each foreigners involved.
She was found to have permitted 12 Filipinos, eight of them women, age between 19 and 47, to stay at Arah Borneo Sdn Bhd in Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park, here at 12.
25pm on Jan 9, 2020.
The Filipinos did not have any social work passes.
The offence under Section 55E(2) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 which carries a jail term of up to a year, or a fine of between RM5,000 and RM30,000, or both, for each illegal immigrant involved.
The court allowed Ng’s application to pay the fine by instalment (twice) but that she must pay RM30,000 by Monday and the balance on or before June 4 this year.
During mitigation, Ng pleaded for leniency by saying that because of the pandemic, her income had been affected.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Arif Aizuddin Masrom of the Immigration Department urged the court to impose an adequate sentence as such case is very rampant nowadays.
In another case, a 45-year-old man was fined RM5,000 in default of two months’ jail, also for letting a Filipino without any document to stay in his premises.
Thien Fui Hiung admitted to allowing the 21-year-old Filipino to stay in his premises at New 66 Café in Wei Hing Industrial, Kolombong at 3pm on Feb 20, 2020.
When asking for leniency, Thien informed the court that he had to pay high amount of shop rental and that due to the pandemic, his business had been affected.
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