Kota Kinabalu: A man and a woman were fined RM10,000 in default six months’ jail each for using a fake digital document to claim the Penjana 2.0 incentive offered by the government.
Shareholder Louis Chin Yuk Su, 33, and financial controller Choong Li Ching, 40, pleaded guilty separately before Sessions Court Judge Jason Juga, Thursday.
The duo had used the forged Data Penjana Kerjaya Majikan of a private college here to apply for the Penjana Kerjaya 2.0 hiring incentive programme amounting to RM4,800 via the Penjana Kerjaya website on Oct 2, 2020 at Wisma Perkeso, Tanjung Aru.
The offence under Section 471 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 465 of the same Code provides a jail term of up to two years or a fine or both, upon conviction.
SPONSORED CONTENT Daily Express members: Enjoy 1 for 1 signature cocktails and more at Hyatt Centric Kota Kinabalu Kota Kinabalu: DAILY EXPRESS is partnering with Hyatt Centric Kota Kinabalu to offer an exclusive deal for our members. Read more During mitigation, counsel Dominic Chew who represented Chin and counsel Mohd Al Hafidz Mohd Lokman for Choong, asked for a lower fine, saying that the duo were remorseful and first-time offenders.
Chew told the court that the college had paid RM172,779.75 to the Social Security Organisation’s (Socso) which showed that they had repented and did not want the Malaysian government to suffer losses.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Fadly Mohd Zamri from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission urged the court to impose an appropriate punishment due to the rampancy of such case and taking into consideration public interest.
He submitted that from January to October this year, the prosecution had brought to court 54 cases involving false documents to Socso in the country.
Mohamad said this had caused Socso to suffer losses of up to millions of ringgit.
The court heard that Chin who has been appointed Chief Operation Officer and Registrar of the college since 2019 had instructed Choong (the financial controller) to apply for the incentive for 13 employees.
Choong then uploaded all 13 employees’ details including names, positions and salaries on the Penjana Kerjaya website.
However, based on the investigation, one of the nominees was not an employee of the college and not eligible to receive the incentive.
Penjana was introduced by the government to help those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The plan, under the Ministry of Human Resources, is administered by Socso.
The duo paid their respective fine.
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