Kota Kinabalu: A 49-year-old salesman from Penang, was jailed three years for indirectly dealing with unlawful transaction involving a sum of RM1,000 using his own bank account.
Sessions Court Judge Hurman Hussain meted out the sentence to Tan Joo Hong who pleaded guilty to the charge against him.
Tan committed the unlawful debit transaction from one Lam Hon Ket, in his bank account at 12.24pm on May 1 this year at Taman Chempaka Jalan Tuaran Bypass, here.
He committed the offence under Section 424C(1) of the Penal Code carries a jail term of between three and ten years, or could be a fine of between RM10,000 and RM150,000, or both, on conviction.
During mitigation, Tan who was not represented, asked for leniency saying that he has family to look after.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryan Francis urged the court to impose a deterrence sentence in the form of custodial sentence on the grounds that the Section 424C of the Penal Code was introduced to address the unlawful use and transactions involving payment instruments and financial accounts, particularly in response to the rise of “akaun keldai” (mule account) activities by criminal syndicates.
Bryan submitted that such offence was very rampant and increasing in Malaysia.
“A strong message is required as preventive measures to curb these offences. Public demands for a serious action to be taken against the accused as lesson to him and also message to all would-be offender,” he said.
The court heard that the complainant identified as Lam Hon Ket, lodged a report regarding an unlicensed moneylending scheme.
According to the complainant, in around November 2024, he took out loans from several unknown agents through WhatsApp. The total amount of loans obtained by the complainant was RM116,400.
The complainant was subsequently instructed to make regular repayments which exceeded the amount he had borrowed. He made repayments totalling RM113,450 to 12 different bank accounts.
However, the loan agents subsequently threatened the complainant, demanding that he settle a further outstanding loan amount of RM177,400.
The complainant was threatened that photographs of him and his family would be circulated on social media if he failed to make the payment.
He was also told that the agents would visit his residence to collect the outstanding amount.
Further investigations found that Tan was one of the account holders who received payments from the complainant in connection with the loan.
Tan was the holder of the bank account used to receive RM1,000 from the complainant.
Tan was subsequently arrested and during the investigation, he failed to explain how the money had been deposited into his bank account.
