Seven-month jail for Bangladeshi for keeping 238 passports

SEPANG: A Bangladeshi national, who was a director of a contractor company, was today sentenced to seven months jail by the Sepang sessions court on 239 charges of keeping passports of other persons without permission and abusing the social visit pass.
Judge Harith Sham Mohamed Yasin meted out the sentence on Harun Or Rashid, 40, or known as 'Dr Harun 2.0' after he pleaded guilty to all the charges which were read separately by a court interpreter.
Under the first charge, Harun allegedly kept 238 passports owned by others without valid authority for the use of others in a room at HMM Maju Sah Sdn Bhd, No. 8A, Jalan 6/6, Taman Komersil, Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur at 5.30pm on Jan 4.
The father of three was sentenced to seven months' jail for each charge, while for a misuse of a social visit pass he was jailed for three months.
The court then ordered all the sentences to run concurrently from the date he was arrested on Jan 4.
The prosecution was conducted under Section 12 (1) (f) of the Passport Act 1966 and punishable under Section 12 (1) of the same Act, which provides for a maximum fine of RM10,000, or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both.
Under the second charge of violating the terms of the social visit pass, Harun who used the document to work in HHM Maju Sah Sdn Bhd was charged under Regulation 39 (b) of the Immigrant Regulations 1963 which carries a maximum fine of RM1,000 or imprisonment of not more than six months, or both.
Prosecution was conducted by Immigration Department of Malaysia's deputy public prosecutor V. Kasthuri Bai, while the accused was represented by counsel M. Murugan.
In mitigation, Murugan said that his client was the sole breadwinner for his family comprising a wife and three young children as well as his parents who were in Bangladesh, besides promising not to repeat the same offence.
Kasthuri, however, applied for severe penalties, by taking into account that the accused had never registered a company to manage foreign workers with the Home Ministry or the Immigration Department of Malaysia and he was not authorised to keep documents belonging to others.
She said the accused had indeed pleaded guilty and his confession saved costs and the time of the court.
"However, I appeal to the court to take into account the seriousness of the activity committed by the accused such as keeping the documents of another person without lawful authority," she said.
Kasthuri said the case had also attracted the attention of the public whereby after the arrest of the accused, the Immigration Department of Malaysia had received more complaints regarding such cases.
According to the facts of the case, the accused was arrested after being suspected of being involved in activities involving immigration and document forgeries besides conducting business in 2015 at HHM Maju Sah Sdn Bhd as a company director. — Bernama