Kangar: A trader and a lorry driver were each fined RM4,000, with an alternative of four months' imprisonment, by the Sessions Court here today after being found guilty of cheating a woman out of RM800. The funds were purportedly meant for village contributions.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Judge Datuk Nu'aman Mahmud Zuhudi imposed the fines on Azizi Ahamad, a 50-year-old trader, and Syaharizul Sahar, a 46-year-old lorry driver. Both pleaded guilty to two counts of cheating. They were each fined RM2,000 for each count, with a default sentence of two months' imprisonment per count.
Azizi and Syaharizul were accused of deceiving a 32-year-old woman into donating RM800 for the residents of Kampung Bakau under the pretense of a road improvement project. However, the money was not distributed to the villagers as intended.
The charges were filed under Section 417 of the Penal Code, and the offences were committed at 12.15 pm on September 3, 2024, and again at 4.25 pm the following day in Kampung Bakau.
The case facts reveal that the woman visited the Kampung Bakau project site on September 3, 2024, to meet Azizi and Syaharizul. During this encounter, she provided Azizi, who was the chairman of the Village Development and Security Council (MPKK), with a work completion document for the Premix Upgrading Works on the Riverside Road in Kampung Bakau, seeking his signature for payment claims from the Perlis Government's District Administration Division.
Syaharizul, representing Azizi, requested RM1,000 from the woman, claiming it was a contribution for villagers. She initially gave Azizi RM300, but Syaharizul insisted the amount was inadequate.
On September 4, 2024, the woman reported the incident to the Perlis Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). The MACC then recorded a conversation between the woman and Azizi, during which he agreed to accept RM500. The marked money was subsequently given to the woman's husband to pass on to Azizi.
Azizi was apprehended with the marked money found in his right trouser pocket. The prosecution was led by MACC Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Fariz Abdul Hamid and Perlis MACC Prosecuting Officer S. Sujatha, while the accused were defended by lawyers Syed Muhammad Anwar Syed Lokman Hakim and Nur Ayuni Ahmad.