42 illegal foreign workers jailed, fined
Published on: Saturday, September 07, 2024
By: Lagatah Toyos
The Chinese tourists and undocumented Filipinos who were charged in the Tawau Sessions Court on Friday.
TAWAU: A total of 42 foreigners including 20 Chinese tourists, who worked on contracts at two resort construction sites in Semporna last August, were charged in the Sessions Court here Friday for immigration offences.
All the accused, aged between 18 and 59, pleaded guilty before Judge Ahmad Faizadh Yahaya after the charge was read simultaneously in Malay for the 22 Filipinos and in Mandarin for the 20 Chinese.
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The Filipinos who are fluent in Malay were sentenced to five months in prison from the date of their arrest on Aug 24, and ordered to be referred to the Malaysian Immigration Department after serving their prison sentence for entering the country without documents.
The 20 Chinese who overstayed between one day and four months were each fined RM10,000 or six months’ imprisonment.
They were charged with committing their respective offences at two locations of a resort construction project, a water resort on Pulau Mataking and in front of Pulau Bum-Bum, Semporna on Aug 24.
They were detained between 7.45am and 3pm during an “Ops Mahir” raid by a team of officers from the Kota Kinabalu Immigration Department after they were found without any identity documents and expired passports.
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When given the opportunity to appeal, most of the Filipino illegal immigrants asked to be given a lighter sentence on the grounds that their wives were pregnant.
They also said they have to support many children (up to nine), care for their elderly parents, paralysed fathers and some even claimed to be orphans.
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The Chinese citizens, on the other hand, begged to be given a light sentence because they just wanted to go home and admitted what they did was wrong.
Earlier, Sabah Immigrations Prosecuting Officer Alfred Rakian requested the court to hand down appropriate sentences against all the accused in order to teach them and others a lesson.
According to him, the prosecution also takes seriously the offence of overstaying in this country and wants foreigners to comply with the country’s rules.
The Filipinos were charged under Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for entering the country illegally, while the Chinese were charged under Section 15(1)(c) of the same act for overstaying.
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