IMMIGRATION OFFICER, WIFE CHARGED WITH LAUNDERING MILLIONS
23 charges levelled against Immigration officer and wife
NORASHIKIN Azmi cut a forlorn figure in the Sessions Court here yesterday, looking up only when she heard the voices of her children outside the courtroom.
She and her two toddlers, aged 9 months and 2 years, arrived yesterday in court, where she faced five charges of abetting her husband in money laundering involving RM2.5 million between April 7 and Nov 14, 2016.
Norashikin, 38, director of two companies allegedly used for the activities, was heard telling a relative in the courtroom that she was worried about her 9-monthold child, who was breastfeeding.
In the same dock, her husband, Mohd Khairi Othman, 38, an Immigration Department senior officer, was seen trying to calm her.
The couple, up against 23 charges of money laundering involving RM11.7 million, claimed trial before judge Azman Abu Hassan.
Khairi, who is based at the Kelantan Immigration Department, faced 18 counts of money laundering involving RM9.2 million between Dec 18, 2015 and March 1, last year, which he allegedly committed at banks in Kedah.
He also claimed trial to two charges under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 for accepting RM150,000 as a bribe from two men at a bank in Sungai Petani on June 19 and July 16, 2015.
He allegedly accepted the money as an inducement to expedite the approval of expatriate passes for two companies while serving as the head of the Expatriate Services Division in Putrajaya.
The couple could face up to 15 years’ jail and a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of unlawful activity or RM5 million, whichever is higher, under Section 4(1) of the AntiMoney Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFPUAA) 2001.
At the same court, Khairi’s older sister, Huziana, 49, claimed trial to abetting her brother in money laundering involving RM500,000 on June 9, 2016 at a bank in Jalan Langgar here.
Huziana, a head nurse at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, stood to face punishment under Section 4(1) of the AMLATFPUAA.
Azman set bail at RM1.6 million for Khairi with one surety, while the bail for Norashikin and Huziana was set at RM200,000 with one surety each. He fixed Feb 12 for mention.
MACC deputy public prosecutor A. Hafiizh Abu Bakar prosecuted, while lawyer Ridha Abdah Subri represented Khairi and his wife.
Ridha asked the court to consider the welfare of the couple’s two children by allowing them a lower bail.
“Norashikin is still breastfeeding, and imposing a higher bail, which she cannot raise, will affect the children,” he said in mitigation.
Norashikin and Huziana both paid the bail.