Pakistani tells court he paid RM14,000 for visa

0

KOTA KINABALU: A Pakistani, who was convicted for using forged documents, told the Sessions Court here yesterday that he had paid RM14,000 to obtain a multiple entry visa.

Shamsul Alam Habib Rasool, 30, who appeared before judge Dato’ Ishak Bakri for sentencing, said the arrangement was made with his countryman, Wakhil Khan, who is from the same village as him.

Shamsul also claimed that there are many Pakistani agents in Sabah who were making such arrangement.

Meanwhile, another Pakistani, Afzal Khan Mirasan Khan, who was also convicted for a similar crime of using forged documents, informed that he had paid RM3,100 to obtain a similar multiple entry visa.

Afzal, who said that he had spent three years in Sabah, added that a man named “Fazal” had made the arrangements for him to obtain the multiple entry visa. Fazal, he added, is also a Pakistani, who had since returned to Pakistan.

“The first payment was RM2,500, followed by another payment of RM600 to the agent,” he said, and added that he had never met the woman named as his wife in his multiple entry visa.

When questioned by the judge, Afzal claimed that a man named Omar Zada had created a passport for him for RM215. Afzal informed further that he entered Malaysia in 2011 and spent five days in Kuala Lumpur before coming to Sabah.

He informed the court that he was ignorant of the condition of the visa issued to him by the Immigration Department in Lahad Datu.

Afzal was charged with using a forged multiple entry visa, which stated that he was married to one Sharwaty Samporang, 22, at the Papar Temporary Detention Centre on February 4, this year.

Shamsul, on the other hand, admitted to the same offence at the Kepayan Detention Centre on October 14, 2014, in which it was found that his social visit pass had contained false information that he was married to one Manisah Sabal, 28.

In their mitigation plea, both men asked for leniency. However, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) prosecuting officer Awang Shamsul Baharam Bongsu pressed for a deterrent sentence out of concern for public and national security and safety.

Shamsul was accordingly sentenced to 16 months in jail effective from his date of arrest on February 10, this year, while Afzal was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment to be served after he has completed 10 months’ imprisonment for other crimes.

A charge for forgery under Section 465 and Section 471 of the Penal Code is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine, or both.