Ex-lawyer gets jail, fine, cane for cheating retiree

KUALA LUMPUR: A former lawyer was sentenced to four years in prison, RM3,000 fine and one stroke of the cane by the Sessions Court here yesterday after pleading guilty to cheating a 60-year-old man of RM7,630.

C. Anand Raja, 44, who is currently serving a three-year jail sentence at Sungai Buloh Prison for another cheating offence was ordered by judge Datuk Habibah Mohamed Yusof to serve his term from yesterday and another three months if he fails to pay the fine.

According to the charge, he misled Mohd Yusof Abdul Manan, a private company retiree, into believing that he would buy his car and settle the outstanding loan repayments at AmBank.

Anand committed the offence at Public Bank, Kajang branch here, at 10.40 am on Aug 10, 2016, under Section 420 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum 10 years jail and whipping, and liable to fine, on conviction.

The facts of the case stated that the victim on Aug 7, 2016 posted an advertisement in Mudah.com to sell his Honda Accord 2.0. Anand responded to the advertisement, introducing himself as ‘Datuk Anand’ and agreed to buy the car for RM104,000.

The ex-lawyer later told the victim that the loan balance exceeded the car price by RM7,630 and convinced him to deposit the amount into the Public Bank account of his wife.

The victim subsequently checked with AmBank and found that Anand had not settled his car loan.

Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Khairiyah Samsudin appeared for the prosecution while Anand was unrepresented.