79 strokes and jail for fraud
> Former soldier pleads guilty to 79 charges
MALACCA: A former army corporal was sentenced to a total 197 years’ jail – but will only serve 30 months – and 79 strokes of the cane by the sessions court yesterday on 79 counts of misappropriation involving allocations for the Special Warfare Training Centre (Pulpak) in Sungai Udang Camp, two years ago.
Judge Datuk Mohd Nasir Nordin handed down the sentence on Musa Md Dawi, 28, a contract worker, and ordered the sentence to run concurrently after he pleaded guilty to all the charges yesterday. The man, who was unrepresented, received 30 months jail and one stroke of the cane for each charge.
Musa was charged with 74 counts of misappropriating Pulpak funds meant for travelling allowance and annual leave claims through creating payment vouchers amounting to RM46,281.10, which was banked into his own account.
He was charged on three other counts involving Pulpak travelling allowances totalling RM3,067.60, which was credited into the bank account of Anuar Bolhassan.
He also faced two additional counts of pocketing RM889.40 through the bank account of Mohd Ramdan Mohd Sani involving payment vouchers for Pulpak travelling allowance and leave claims.
Musa committed all the offences at Pulpak Budget Office, Sungai Udang Camp between April 25 and July 1, 2016.
The charges were framed under Section 403 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to five years, whipping and a fine.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Irwan Shah Abdul Samat from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission asked for a deterrent sentence.
According to the deputy public prosecutor, Musa had also absconded and failed to appear in court for remention of the case and trial necessitating a warrant of arrest, aside from inconveniencing many parties and additional costs to search for him. – Bernama