Private school principal jailed, caned for cheating
TAWAU: A 30-year-old private school principal was sentenced to 15 months’ jail and one stroke of the cane by the Magistrate Court here yesterday for cheating and dishonestly inducing payment of RM9,750 for non-existent tenders.
Magistrate Muhammad Faizal passed the sentence on Mohammad Zaidin bin Zainuddin after he was found guilty on a charge under Section 420 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of not less than one year and not more than 10 years and with whipping, and shall also be liable to a fine.
The accused had on January 2017 cheated one Jurinah bte Jafri, 28, by inducing her to transfer online RM9,750 to his RHB bank account for school canteen tenders which did not exist.
The victim subsequently made a police report on April 17, 2017 when she did not get the tenders as promised. Following the report made, the accused was detained on October 2, 2017 at Indah 9 Road, Bandar Sri Indah for alleged cheating.
Investigation into the case revealed that the victim had met the accused at Sekolah Tunas Bakti to get the tenders for the canteens at Tunas Bakti and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Balung after they were advertised in the accused’s Facebook account.
Thereafter, the victim made several online transfers, comprising of RM2,750 deposit for the Tunas Bakti tender, RM3,000 deposit for SMK Balung tender and RM3,500 deposit for SMK Balung dining hall.
After the deposits were made, the victim did not get any of the tenders from the accused. She then referred the matter to the schools concerned and learnt that no such tenders existed.