Court dismisses appeal by former Tabung Haji staff

KUALA LUMPUR: Two former employees of the Pilgrims Fund Board (Tabung Haji -HJ) will be spending this Aidilfitri behind bars when the High Court here today upheld the jail sentence imposed on them for corruption.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohamad Shariff Abu Samah made the decision after dismissing the appeal by Roslan Mohamed Som, 51, and Afizul Md Yasin, 38, against the conviction and sentence imposed by a Sessions Court in 2014.
Roslan, then a clerk, and Afizul, a former system analyst, were sentenced to four years' jail and three years' jail, respectively, by the Sessions Court for accepting bribe to allow 27 people to jump queue to perform the Haj pilgrimage in 2010.
The court also fined Roslan RM40,000, in default 16 months' jail, while Afizul was fined RM60,000, in default 24 months' jail, for committing the offence.
In the judgment, Mohamad Shariff said Sessions Court judge Mat Ghani Abdullah had not erred in law and facts in convicting and sentencing them.
"Therefore, the court dismisses their appeal and upholds the judgment by the Sessions Court judge.
"I agree that both the appellants are guilty and therefore the punishment meted out by the Sessions Court judge is upheld," he added.
He ordered Roslan and Afizul to serve the jail sentence from today and also to pay the fine immediately after rejecting their request for a stay of the sentence.
Earlier, lawyers Hisyam Teh Poh Teik and Datuk Hanif Hassan, representing Roslan and Afizul, applied for a stay of the sentence to allow their clients to celebrate Aidilfitri and to be allowed to pay the fine in installments.
On Feb 9 2012, Roslan claimed trial to a charge of accepting RM6,750 in bribe from one Samsudin Ibrahim to help 27 people who were not eligible to perform the Haj pilgrimage in 2010 to jump queue, hence enabling them to go for the pilgrimage that year.
The offence was committed at Jalan Raja Muda Musa, Kampung Baru here between 3.30pm and 4pm on July 15, 2010.
He was charged under Section 17(a) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 which provides an imprisonment for up to 20 years and fine times the amount of bribery involved, or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Afizul was charged with unauthorised computer modification under Section 5(1) of the Computer Crimes Act for adding 27 names to the Tabung Haji database between June and July 2010 at the Tabung Haji headquarters.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Nur Azah Kasran. — Bernama