Duo charged with operating brothel
KOTA KINABALU: Two men from Peninsular Malaysia claimed trial at the Sessions Court here yesterday to a joint charge of operating a brothel house.
Tay Leong Hee, 53 and Tay Thian Chuan, 45, who appeared before judge Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim, was charged under Section 373 (1) (a) of the Penal Code.
The charge carries a jail term of up to 15 years and a fine upon conviction.
The two Tays allegedly committed the offence at a hotel here at 8.44pm on December 12.
The judge fixed January 10 next year for case management and set bail at RM20,000 each with one local surety.
The court ordered the passports of the accused to be impounded and the accused to report once a month to the Immigration Department investigating officer of this case.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Fazril Sani Mohamad Fadzil told the court that the alleged offence was non-bailable and if the court were to grant bail for both accused persons, he requested that it be set at RM30,000 each.
Fazril also said the prosecution had additional conditions apart from the bail amount stated, namely both the accused’s passports be kept by the court and to report once a month to the investigating officer of the case which is the Immigration Department here.
In reply, defence counsels Datuk Chau Chin Tang and Adrian Cham requested that the bail be reduced to RM15,000 and that the defence had no objection to the additional conditions sought by the prosecution.
On December 5, Leong Hee claimed trial to a charge of allowing illegal immigrants to be at his premises.