Ex-RELA officer jailed, fined RM147,160 for submitting false MCO allowance claims
KOTA KINABALU (June 11): A former RELA officer was sentenced to 16 days in jail and fined a total of RM147,160 by a Sessions Court here on Wednesday for seven counts of submitting false claims for allowances during assignments made during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period.
Judge Jason Juga ordered 63-year-old Venantius Masingga to serve all his jail terms concurrently.
Although he was sentenced to two days' imprisonment for each of the seven charges, the concurrent nature of the sentences means he will only serve two days behind bars.
However, it was learnt that Venantius could not afford to pay the fines.
He was fined between RM16,160 and RM27,680 for each offence. In default of payment, he faces three months' imprisonment for each charge, amounting to a total of 21 months.
The charges involved false allowance claims submitted between March 2020 and August 2021.
The court also ordered the return of Venantius' passport and a refund of his bail.
In mitigation, the unrepresented Venantius pleaded for a lenient sentence, stating that the money obtained was used to buy food for other RELA personnel whose income was affected by the MCO.
In response, the prosecution requested a sentence that would serve as a deterrent, though they acknowledged that Venantius had saved the court's time by pleading guilty.
Previously, on March 14, Venantius had claimed trial to 18 similar charges. The court took the remaining 11 charges into consideration under Section 171A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
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