Kuala Lumpur: The Sessions Court here today set March 11 to decide on a case involving cosmetics entrepreneur Datuk Seri Aliff Syukri Kamarzaman who is charged with four counts of improper use of network facilities by uploading offensive video content on his Instagram account. Judge Ahmad Fuad Othman fixed the date after hearing the submission by the defence and the prosecution.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, lawyer Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, representing Aliff Syukri, submitted that there was a possibility that the video was not uploaded by his client. He referred to an instance at the office of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) when Aliff Shukri’s assistant had filled in the username and password of Aliff Syukri’s social media account on the form provided. Aliff Syukri received the form and instructed the assistant to write without telling him what to write, resulting in the assistant writing the username and password without getting information from Aliff Syukri before handing over the form to MCMC. This, he argued, indicated that someone else knows the username and password of Aliff Syukri’s social media account.

Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Faten Hadni Khairuddin from MCMC argued that merely knowing someone else’s social media account information does not mean they are responsible for uploading certain content. She stated that the results of the investigation found that the caption for the video titled ‘Jangan Kecam Saya’ clearly showed it was written by Aliff Syukri. The mobile phone belonging to Aliff Syukri was seized, and all the information and video content material were found in the phone, indicating that the social media account is administered by Aliff Syukri himself.

On October 13, 2022, Aliff Syukri, 38, pleaded not guilty to four charges of improper use of network facilities by uploading offensive video content on his Instagram account. He was charged with sending offensive communications using the Instagram account aliffsyukriterlajaklaris with the intention of annoying others on April 13, 15, 17, and 21, 2022. The charge, framed under Section 233 (1) (a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588) and punishable under Section 233(3) of the same law, provides a maximum fine of RM50,000 or up to a year’s jail, or both, if found guilty.