Kota Kinabalu: A 27-year-old Immigration officer who wanted to earn more money by helping foreigners exit the country without complying with the law, was fined a total of RM12,000 on two counts of bribery.
Sessions Court Judge Abu Bakar Manat meted out the sentence on Cassandraella Jalius (pic) whose case was brought up for facts and sentencing on Thursday.
A Facebook posting stated that she was the Klang Valley Unduk Ngadau runner-up in 2019 but could not be confirmed.
Cassandraella had admitted to two main charges against her on May 10, this year.
On the first charge, Cassandraella was ordered to pay a fine of RM6,000 or three months’ jail for receiving RM1,000 cash from one Mohd Shah Ezywan Abdul Rahman via cash deposit machine, in which Cassandraella knew that Mohd Shah was related with her official duty.
The crime took place at the CIMB Bank Berhad Ranau branch on Dec 7, 2019.
On the second charge, she was fined another RM6,000 or three months’ jail for accepting RM2,200 cash from Mohd Shah via cash deposit machine in which she knew that Mohd Shah was related with her official duty.
The offence allegedly took place at CIMB Bank Berhad Ranau branch on Dec 30, 2019.
The offence under Section 165 of the Penal Code provides for a jail term of up to two years, or with fine, or both, on conviction.
In asking for leniency, counsel Farazwin Haxdy asked for a lowest fine to be imposed on her client, saying it was Cassandraella’s first offence.
Farazwin informed the court that Cassandraella is currently residing in Kuala Lumpur and under her care are her youngest sister and elderly mother.
She further said her client was remorseful and extended her apologies to the court as well as promise to not commit any offence in future.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nartiah F.M Sambatan urged the court to hand down a deterrent sentence on the grounds that it was a serious offence which involved the nation’s security as stated in the facts of the case that Cassandraella helped to allow foreigners exit the country through Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) without complying with the law.
Nartiah further submitted that Cassandraella had earned profit wrongly by committing such offence and the offence was very rampant nowadays.
She informed the court that Cassandraella had got involved in a major syndicate in helping the foreigners exit the country without complying with the law.
Nartiah said even though Cassandraella had extended apologies, the “damage had been done” and could not be reversed.
The court heard that Cassandraella worked at KLIA2 and her duty was to check in and out of the passengers, including the permanent residents and foreign nationals according to the work process set by the Immigration Department at the immigration check counter.
In Aug 2017, Cassandraella faced financial problems and told her colleague that she needed to earn extra income for her daily expenses.
The colleague then introduced Cassandraella to Mohd Shah, also an Immigration officer, who always contacted the agents in releasing the foreigners from China who were in Malaysia, to return to their country.
Cassandraella then agreed to help Mohd Shah to release the foreigners from China who had problems like overstaying in the country, fake special pass or blacklisted.
Mohd Shah had paid Cassandraella between RM200 and RM500 for each passport or foreigner.
The first RM1,000 payment had been made via cash deposit machine on Dec 7, 2019 and the second RM2,200 payment on Dec 30, 2019.
Cassandraella paid the fine.
