KUALA LUMPUR: A former senior administrative officer of the International Council For Scientific Union-Regional Office For Asia Pacific (ICSU-ROAP) was jailed four months and fined RM231,200 by the sessions court here today for deceiving his employer with regard to false advance payments of RM46,240 four years ago.
Judge Azura Alwi meted out the sentence on Mohd Hizamddin Jaafar, 46, after he pleaded guilty to the charge.
She ordered him to start his jail sentence today and to serve another 12 months if he could not pay the fine.
Mohd Hizamddin, as a senior administrative officer of ICSU-ROAP, had deceived his employer, Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) chief executive officer, with an application form dated Oct 6, 2016 for advance payments of RM46,240 containing false particulars, that it was meant for paying participants of the ‘5th International Workshop On Psychological Intervention After Disaster (5th PIAD) 14-17 Nov 2016 Manila the Philippines’.
The application was approved but the money never went to the participants.
He was charged with committing the offence at ICSU-ROAP, ASM here on Oct 6, 2016 under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, and liable to be punished under Section 24(2) of the same act, which provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years and fine of not less than five times the amount of gratification involved or RM10,000, whichever is higher.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin of MACC asked the court to impose a jail sentence and a fine.
“The accused had used his position to deceive his employer. He had planned this thing for his own benefit. Finally, he succeeded at the expense of his employer,” he added.
Lawyer Adenan Ismail, who represented the accused, asked for a light sentence, saying his client is HIV positive and needs follow-up treatment at the hospital.
“My client is also unemployed and has to support his mother,” he said. — Bernama
