Businessman charged with stealing tobacco worth RM323,000

KLANG: A prominent businessman has been charged at the Magistrate’s Court here for allegedly stealing 1,451 packets of molasses tobacco of various flavours.

Datuk Seikh Fakira Seikh Ahmad, from Kampung Telok Gong, Port Klang, is accused of committing the offence between 1am and 4am on May 27.

He allegedly stole the tobacco valued at RM323,000 from a container belonging to Al Muhra Sdn Bhd, which was parked behind a house in Kampung Telok Gong.

Seikh Fakira, 40, was charged under Section 379 of the Penal Code for the offence and faces a jail term of up to seven years or a fine, or both, if found guilty.

He was arrested with six others, including two Customs Department officers, for the alleged offence though the others have yet to be charged.

Deputy public prosecutor Ermadieyani Ismadi asked Magistrate Roslizi Sulaiman to impose a bail of RM25,000 given the gravity of the offence.

She also asked the court to order Seikh Fakira not to contact the six other people arrested together with him.

It is learnt that some of them may become the prosecution’s witness.

However, Seikh Fakira’s counsel Gerard Lazarus asked for bail to be set at RM3,000 as his client was not a flight risk.

“He belongs to a well-known family here and has two schoolgoing children and a toddler aged three.

“He is also taking care of his father-in-law, who is an acute diabetic and is on dialysis,” said Lazarus, who was assisted by Navin Punj Shomdutt Sharma.

Lazarus also said his client did not have access to any of the ports in Klang which would have enabled him to smuggle the item out.

Roslizi set bail at RM10,000 with one surety and fixed Sept 25 for case mention.

The accused is the younger brother of a Klang-based politician who contested in the last general election.

The tobacco is believed to belong to a company owned by the wife of a prominent person from Sarawak.