KOTA KINABALU: Two former trainee marketing officers at a bank branch here were fined a total of RM10,500, in default, 12 months’ jail by the Corruption Court here for three joint charges of using as genuine two documents under the name of a woman for a personal loan application at a bank which was later approved.
Judge Abu Bakar Manat imposed RM3,500 fine each, in default, four months’ imprisonment on Mohd Hazrie Nor Ghazali, 29, and Mohd Ridwuan Ahmad, 31, for each of their charges after they had pleaded guilty on Tuesday.
The two accused persons were convicted under Section 471, punishable under Section 465, read together with Section 34, all sections of the Penal Code, which provides for a jail term of up to two years or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
On the first to the second counts, they admitted to use as genuine two bank statements of the woman as supporting documents for the loan application twice between July and September, 2016 at the bank branch.
On the third count, the duo admitted to use as genuine another statement bearing a company’s name under the name of the said woman, also as a supporting document for the application on the same month at the same place.
The fact of the case stated that Mohd Hazrie and Mohd Ridwuan were contract trainees under a program at the bank and the women, who came to the bank, to make a loan application but she was not qualified as she had a lot of monthly commitments.
Due to that, the accused persons had made the supporting documents for the woman which her personal loan was later approved.
Mohd Hazrie and Mohd Ridwuan were arrested on September 7, 2016.
In pleading for a lenient sentence, counsel PJ Perira, who defended both the accused persons, prayed for a non-custodial sentence be imposed on his clients.
The counsel submitted that his clients were first offenders and they had pleaded guilty to the charges which had saved the court and witnesses’ times.
The counsel further suggested for his clients to be fined RM3,500 for each of the charges as both did not benefit from this case.
In reply, the prosecution applied to the court to impose an appropriate sentence on both the accused persons.
The prosecution also said that they took note that the accused persons had no previous conviction, however, the prosecution urged the court to take into account that the offence involved was serious and the accused persons were facing three charges.