GEORGE TOWN: An assistant director of the Penang National Registration Department (NRD) has claimed trial to 11 charges of falsifying Malaysian birth certificates and identity cards (MyKads) with the intention of selling them to China nationals here.
Mohd Faizul Arifin, aged 34, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out to him at the sessions court. He was detained on Aug 20.
He faces a maximum of life imprisonment if convicted under Section 26E of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) Act 2007, as well as Section 466 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 109 and Regulation 25(1)(i) of the National Registration Regulations 1990.
Five others, including a businessman with the title “Datuk”, were slapped with 22 other charges respectively in relation to the same offences.
Mohd Faizul allegedly committed the offences at the Penang NRD office in the federal complex along Anson Road.
The others charged alongside Faizul are “Datuk” Lai Chin Wah, 56, Loh Chan Cheong, 34, Yap Cheng Wah, 44, Chien Guan Chai, 36 and Mohd Faizal Tan Abdullah, 66.
A total of 32 charges against the six accused were read out in two sessions courts before judges Salha Hamzah and Mazdi Abdul Hamid. The cases were fixed for mention on Sept 18.
The six, believed to be part of a syndicate selling forged MyKads and Malaysian birth certificates to Chinese nationals, are believed to have raked in between RM100,000 and RM600,000.
Police have arrested over 20 individuals in relation to this case.
