Conviction of Sheila Majid’s former clerk upheld, but sentence reduced

We find the High Court did err in enhancing the penalty and are instead reinstating the Sessions Court’s sentence. Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat

PUTRAJAYA: A former clerk who defrauded jazz queen Datuk Sheila Majid’s company of RM90,000 had her jail time cut down to four years by the Court of Appeal.

However, Nasimah Kamarudin did not manage to clear her conviction of criminal breach of trust against Sheila’s company, Magada Entertainment Sdn Bhd, in which she used several forged cheques to siphon the cash into her own bank account.

Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said there was no reason to disturb the earlier courts’ decision to convict and sentence her to prison.

But the three-member panel, which included Justices Zakaria Sam and Ahmadi Asnawi, unanimously set aside the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to make the punishment more severe by upping it to seven years’ prison and a RM50,000 fine.

“We find the High Court did err in enhancing the penalty and are instead reinstating the Sessions Court’s sentence,” ruled Justice Tengku Maimun.

Earlier, Nasimah’s lawyer Ahmad Shamil Azad Abdul Hamid said while the prosecution claimed that the crime had affected Sheila’s image, there was no evidence to back up the statement.

In her argument, DPP Norinna Bahadun said the element of entrustment was clearly established because in Sheila’s testimony, Nasimah, who was her clerk for five years, was in charge of the cheque books.

Nasimah, a single mother of two children, was seen crying as she was led away from the courtroom.

According to the charge, she was entrusted to manage a Maybank cheque book belonging to the company but had issued five cash cheques in her name and deposited eight cheques in her bank account between Nov 1, 2007 and March 28, 2008.

Nasimah, 41, was found guilty by the Sessions Court on July 29 last year and punished with a four-year jail term.

She appealed to the High Court while the prosecution cross-appealed for a harsher sentence.

On March 20, the High Court allowed the prosecution’s appeal and sentenced Nasimah to seven years’ jail and a RM50,000 fine, with one year’s prison in default.

She failed to pay the fine and has been in jail since then.