Single mother fined RM1,000 for having money unlawfully

A single mother was fined RM1,000 in default 14 days in jail by a magistrates’ court here after pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful possession of money amounting to RM26,000.

Heryanty Mohd Afandi, 42, from Ipoh, Perak was charged under Section 37(1) of the Sarawak Minor Offence Ordinance 1958 which provides up to three months’ jail or RM500-fine for each charge.

In the first case, a man had lodged a police report claiming he had been deceived by an individual who offered a nonexistent gift worth US$400,000.

The complainant claimed that around 9pm on April 19 last year, he befriended a woman on a social site, who told him that his name was picked a winner of a prize worth so much in US$.

To further convince the complainant, the individual also said that she had received a similar gift amounting to US$450,000.

The complainant, excited by the news, contacted another individual through a social media site as told by his acquaintance, and was then asked to deposit RM16,000 into an account in the name of Heryanty Mohd Afandi.

The complainant transferred the amount into a given account at a bank in Boulevard Commercial Centre here at 9.36am on April 20 last year.

The next day, the complainant received a message stating that his US$400,000 gift was withheld by an insurance company, and to redeem it, the complainant was asked to deposit RM150,000 into the same account.

Sensing that he had been deceived the complainant lodged a police report.

Further investigation by the police found that the complainant had deposited RM16,000 into the accused’s bank account.

In the second case, the accused was found to have committed a similar offence by unlawfully possessing money amounting to RM10,000.

She was charged with committing the offence at 5.07pm on Oct 5, 2020 at a bank branch in Boulevard Commercial Centre here.

The accused appealed for a lighter sentence saying she was a single mother with three children.

The accused was then fined RM500 in default seven days’ jail for each offence.

ASP Koay Kok Ping prosecuted before Magistrate Nazira Adlin Ahmad Khairul Razi, while the accused was not represented by a counsel.