Car broker jailed 12 months, gets hefty fine

KOTA KINABALU: A car broker was jailed 12 months and fined a total of RM4 million by the Corruption Court here for making seven invoices which contained false chassis numbers of vehicles supplied to a company.

Judge Abu Bakar Manat sentenced Ezwan Shah Jaafar, 40, after the latter pleaded guilty to two alternative charges offered by the prosecution when the case came up for trial yesterday.

Both charges under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 carry a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine of up to RM10,000 or five times the bribery amount or whichever is higher, upon conviction.

On the first count, the accused was jailed for six months and fined RM2.3 million, in default, six months’ jail, and another six months behind bars plus RM1.7 million fine, in default, four months’ jail for his second charge.

The offences were committed at a building at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman between August 1 and 31, 2013.

The court ordered the accused to serve his jail terms concurrently which is only six months. If he failed to pay the fines, he will serve another 10 months’ imprisonment.

In mitigation, counsel Rebecca Tamin who represented the accused submitted that her client was the sole breadwinner of his family, had six children and had no previous conviction.

The counsel urged the court to impose a minimum sentence for her client and suggested the accused be placed under a bond of good behaviour.

In reply, Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) prosecuting officer Awang Samsul Baharam Bongsu argued that the court should strike a balance between the interest of public and the accused in imposing the sentence.

The prosecution submitted that because of the accused’s action, the RM776,400 belonging to the company which was paid to another company for buying the vehicles was wasted, adding that MACC had requested for the vehicles for investigation purposes.

As for the suggestion for the accused to be placed under a bond of good behaviour, the prosecution rebutted that the section involved in this case was a serious one and the suggestion given was inadequate punishment, to which the prosecution urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on the accused.

The accused, who was also defended by co-counsel Razali Awang, was given the opportunity to speak in court and said he regretted what he had done and made an undertaking not to repeat a similar offence.