Javanese to face trial for funding terror activities

KOTA KINABALU: A 34-yearold travel agency operator will face trial at the High Court here, on four counts of knowingly funding terrorist activities.

Mohd Firdaus Asren Saputra B MS Asren, a local Javanese, received the order from magistrate Cindy Mc Juce Balitus after the latter allowed the case to be transmitted to the High Court, upon receiving instructions from the deputy public prosecutor’s office.

Four amended charges were read to Mohd Firdaus during the mention of his case yesterday, which all came under Section 130N (b) of the Penal Code.

On the first to the fourth counts, the accused had allegedly given one Bukhori Che Noor a total of RM2,400 through his Maybank account on four separate occasions, at various branches between April 1, 2016 and June 30 of the same year, with reasonable knowledge that the money would be used to commit terrorist acts.

If found guilty of committing the offences, Mohd Firdaus will face up to 30 years’ imprisonment with a fine for each charge, in addition to forfeiture of any property provided, collected or made available.

The accused nodded that he understood the charges, but no plea was taken pending the case transfer to the High Court.

Furthermore, no bail was offered to Mohd Firdaus on the grounds that the unlawful acts were specified as security offences under the first schedule of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012.

Deputy public prosecutor Husna Abdul Halim led the prosecution, while defence counsel Farazwin Haxdy represented Mohd Firdaus.