KOTA KINABALU: At the Sessions Court here yesterday, eight medical assistants, who were found guilty of using forged documents in making overtime allowance claim, were all fined in total RM115,000 for the 38 charges preferred against them.
Sessions Court judge Abu Bakar Manat imposed the fine on the eight medical assistants comprising, Mohd Rosidih Mohd Saidi, 39, Zulkifli Arun, 29, Terence Linchos, 39, Juraineh Musalim, 28, Jaduin Untop, 31, Noor Salim Mohd Zin, 28, Mohd Akmal Hafiz Mohamad Ariff, 27, and Naza Fadirul @ Mick Ab Satar, 34, yesterday.
In delivering his decision, the judge advised the guilty parties to learn from their mistake and to uphold integrity in their task in the future.
“As human beings, we all make mistakes and there is always room for improvement. Should all of you remain employed, please take good care of the tasks given to you and never take advantage of any situation. Think before you act, because you not only humiliate yourself but your family as well,” he advised.
Mohd Rosidih, Zulkifli, Terence, Jaduin and Naza were each fined RM15,000, RM14,000, RM17,000, RM18,000, and RM20,000, respectively, in default Mohd Rosidih, Zulkifli and Terence will be jailed for three months while Jaduin and Naza will be jailed for four months.
Noor Salim and Mohd Akmal were fined a total of RM12,000, in default, three months jail, while Juraineh received a fine of RM7,000, in default, two months jail.
On February 1, Mohd Rosidih, Zulkifli, Terence, Jaduin, Noor Salim, Mohd Akmal and Naza all admitted to their five alternative charges of having fraudulently used as genuine the overtime allowance claim statements which contained false details of them working outside of the normal working hours between January and May, 2016 which in actual fact they did not performed.
The claims made by each of them were RM16,696.10, RM14,065.91, RM18,829.44, RM19,992.63, RM13,466.89, RM12,842.26 and RM22,216.61, respectively.
The only female accused, Juraineh, pleaded guilty to three alternative charges of committing a similar offence for the months of March until May, 2016, amounting to RM8,647.40.
The total overtime allowance claim made by the eight accused persons were RM126,757.24.
All of the accused persons, who work in the Ophthalmology Clinic (eye clinic) of Queen Elizabeth Hospital One, here, committed the offence at the Accountant General’s Department in Wisma Perindustrian here between February 1 and June 30, 2016.
The offences, framed under Section 471 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 465 of the same Code, carries a jail term of up to two years or a fine or both, upon conviction.
In mitigation, the accused persons, defended by counsels Ram Singh and Hairul Vaiyron, pleaded for leniency on the grounds that it is their first offence and that all of them do not have any disciplinary records throughout their year of service in the hospital. They further stated that they also have a family to support and would like to continue their service in the hospital thereafter, while some others cited health problems.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Rozanna Abd Hadi pressed the court to impose a deterrent sentence as a lesson to the accused persons who were supposed to be the government representatives in the medical field. She stated further that the money which they claimed were not theirs and had caused a loss to the government.
The court discharged and acquitted Mohd Akmal and Naza of all charges of abetting in making false claims, under Section 28 (1)(c) of the MACC Act 2009, read together under Section 18 of the Act and punishable under Section 24 (2) of the same Act, following an application made by the prosecution.
The prosecution had earlier applied for the court to withdraw all the charges under Section 28 (1)(c) of the MACC Act 2009 which Mohd Akmal and Naza were charged with.
All of the accused persons were first arraigned on August 24, 2017.
DPP Rozanna appeared together with DPP Rustam Sanip from the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission, while counsel Ram Singh together with Kimberly Ye represented Mohd Rosidih, Zulkifli, Terence, Juraineh, Jaduin and Naza. Counsel Hairul Vaiyron represented Noor Salim and Mohd Akmal.