Kota Kinabalu: A 58-year-old businessman was fined RM10,000 or six months in jail for employing paperless Filipino lorry driver who was driving carelessly and inconsiderately resulted in crashing into 14 vehicles outside a primary school in Putatan.
Sessions Court Judge Hurman Hussain meted out the sentence to Chee Nyit Leong who pleaded guilty to the charge against him.
Chee had hired Judin Sapal, 56, who was on Tuesday sentenced to six months in jail and RM6,000 in fines in default six months in prison for admitting to his offence without valid document.
He was found committing the offence at the Traffic Office in Penampang Police Station on March 2 this year at 11.50am.
The offence under Section 55B(1) of the Immigration Act carries a fine of between RM10,000 and RM50,000, or a jail term of up to 12 months, or both, for each illegal immigrant involved, on conviction.
In mitigation, counsel Goldam Hamid who represented Chee, asked for a minimum fine and no custodial sentence to be imposed on his client saying that the accused is suffering from a heart problem.
Goldam also told the court that it was Chee’s first offence and had admitted to his wrongdoing, adding that Chee was operating a transportation business.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Fazriel Fardiansyah Abdul Kadir urged for a deterrent sentence to be handed down on Chee.
The court heard that on Feb 28 this year, Chee’s worker Judin had caused the incident and was brought to Penampang Police Station for further action.
Investigation revealed that Chee had employed Judin since 2021 and until the day of the incident, Judin did not have any document and had overstayed in the State for over 15 years.
In the same court, a China national and an Indonesian were jailed and fined for overstaying in the State, respectively.
Li Chigang was fined RM10,000 or jailed six months for staying in the State after his work pass had expired on Feb 20 this year and had overstayed for 23 days.
He was detained at 5.30pm on March 15 this year at Counter 7 of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport Departure Hall, here.
Meanwhile, Marten Marni was sentenced to 12 months in jail for overstaying in the State for three years and four months after his Temporary Work Visit pass had expired on Oct 17, 2021.
He was arrested at 2.15am last March 16 at the Rich Generation Café Wholly owned by Rich Generation Sdn Bhd at Pintas Avenue Commercial Centre in Jalan Penampang Bypass, near here.
After serving the jail sentence or paying the fine, both Li and Marten were ordered referred to the Immigration Department for further action.
Prosecuting Officer Chin Tzee Mee prosecuted.
