Kota Kinabalu: A 32-year-old man who used three fake bank statements to obtain tender worth RM1.5 million was fined a total of RM30,000.
Sessions Court Judge Abu Bakar Manat meted out the sentence to Mohammad Nazrul Nordin who changed his plea and admitted to the three charges against him, Thursday.
Mohammad was ordered to pay a fine of RM10,000 or four months’ jail for each charge.
On the first to third counts, Mohammad Nazrul had used the three bank statements dated July 31, Aug 31 and Sept 30 in 2016 under the name of Meraih Hidayah for the purpose of obtaining the tender for supplying cooked food to hostels and schools in Sabah.
The offence took place at the State Education Department, here, on Nov 24, 2016.
He committed the offence under Section 471 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of up to two years or fine, or both, on conviction.
In handing down the sentence, Abu advised Mohammad to learn from his mistake and follow the law in getting any tender.
He added that Mohammad was fortunate because he avoided the jail sentence due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
During mitigation, counsel Azhier Farhan, who defended Mohammad, asked for no custodial sentence and only fine to be imposed on his client.
Azhier informed the court that Mohammad’s family managed to collect only RM30,000 to pay for the fine.
He further submitted that his client was a first-time offender and remorseful of his wrongdoing.
Azhier said prior to the case, Mohammad was working with the Ministry of Domestic and Consumer Affairs but his contract had been terminated due to the case.
However, Prosecuting Officer Clementine Severinus from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission urged the court to hand down an appropriate sentence on the grounds that such case was very rampant and also for the public interest.
Clementine also said Mohammad had obtained the RM1.5 million tender by using false documents.
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