Kota Kinabalu: A 50-year-old self-employed man was discharged and acquitted by the Magistrate’s Court here of cheating an individual of RM108,500 over several infrastructure projects in Kinabatangan and Semporna.
Magistrate Wan Farrah Farriza Wan Ghazali freed Abdillah Hamzah without calling for his defence after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against him.
Abdillah had been charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code with deceiving one Chong Kong Fah into banking the funds into a bank account under Dilwani Enterprise between 23 June 2016 and 5 December 2018 at a Maybank branch in Semporna.
The alleged deception involved claims that the accused managed projects to construct a concrete road to SMK Bukit Garam, upgrade drainage at Bukit Permata Housing Estate, repair the Dataran Lepa-Lepa floating jetty, upgrade roads in Dolton Town, and repair houses in Semporna.
Six witnesses testified for the prosecution, which was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Noor Hafizah Anggu standing in for DPP Arfa Anchal Khan, while counsel Nurul Rafeeqa Afdul Mutolip represented Abdillah.
