KOTA KINABALU: A director of a seafood restaurant was fined a total of RM210,000, in default, 28 months’ jail by the Immigration Court here yesterday for allowing 28 illegal immigrants to remain in a restaurant.
Deputy registrar of the High Court, Hafizi Abdul Halim, who sat as a judge, imposed the sentence on David Lee Nam Lip, 36, who is the director of Gayang Seafood Restaurant Sdn Bhd, after he pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 55E (1) of the Immigration Act 1959/1963.
The indictment provides for a fine of between RM5,000 and RM30,000 or a maximum jail of 12 months or both for each illegal immigrant, upon conviction.
For each of the charges, the accused, who was represented by counsels Ram Singh and YS Lo, received a RM7,500 fine, in default, one month’s imprisonment for each immigrant.
In pleading for a light sentence, Ram urged the court to impose a minimum fine which is RM5,000 for each of the immigrants aged between 18 and 42 from the Philippines and Indonesia who were without valid travel documents or passes.
He also said the seafood restaurant had been around since 12 years ago.
In reply, Immigration Department prosecuting officer Shaiful Izuat Abd Shani applied for a deterrent sentence to be given to the accused to serve as a lesson and also to deter would-be offenders not to commit a similar offence in the future.
The accused paid the fine.
In a separate case, a restaurant owner received a total of RM45,000 fine, in default, six months’ jail for committing a similar offence.
Noorsaliha Agusalim, 24, was fined RM7,500, in default, six months’ jail after she pleaded guilty in the same court to allowing six illegal immigrants, aged between 11 and 15, to remain in her restaurant at Sulaman Central, Jalan Sepanggar in Menggatal on April 28.
The accused, who was defended by counsel Jahara Patimbang, applied for the payment of the fine be paid in two installments.
However, the court said the payment of fine must be made all at once on the chief registrar’s instruction.
In mitigation, the counsel said her client was still new in this field and she did not understand about workers’ documentations when those immigrants came to her premises to ask for work.
Meanwhile, Ernie Marlina Mohammad, 35, was fined a total of RM15,000, in default, two months’ jail for allowing two illegal immigrants to be in a premises. She was arrested at Karamunsing police station on May 25.
The court ordered all the accused persons’ bail to be refunded.