Factory worker charged with cheating cop granted bail

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KOTA KINABALU: The High Court here granted bail to a factory worker charged with two counts of cheating a policeman pending disposal of the case in the lower court.

Justice Ravinthran N. Paramaguru yesterday allowed a revision application by Pramila D/O Munusamy, 33, from Selangor against the Magistrate’s Court’s decision not to grant her bail pending disposal of the case.

Ravinthran released the applicant on RM10,000 bail to be deposited with two local sureties with conditions that the latter has to report herself once a month at the nearest police station in Kepong, Selangor and her international passport would be impounded by the court.

The Magistrate’s Court last week set December 14 to 21, this year for Pramila’s trial after the latter claimed trial to both charges.

The court ordered her to be remanded further under Section 259 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Earlier on counsel Syahirulrazi Jaini, who acted for Pramila, applied for his client to be released on bail on grounds, among others, cheating is a bailable offence.

He also suggested his client to report herself at the nearest police station in Kepong pending disposal of the case.

Deputy public prosecutor Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharuddin however objected to the application stating that although it is a bailable offence, but it involved a huge amount of money.

She said that in this case, Pramila and her husband had allegedly cheated the policeman a total of RM60,500.

Raja Zaizul Faridah also submitted that the applicant was arrested by police one year after the complainant lodged a police report.

She pointed out that before the complainant lodged the police report, there were two other police reports lodged by two other complainants pertaining to the same offence.

However, she said that if the court minded to grant bail, she applied for the applicant to report herself once a week at the Karamunsing police station, her passport to be impounded by the court and proposed a bail of RM10,000 with two local sureties who have permanent employment.

On the first count, Pramila was alleged to have cheated the 51-year-old policeman by inducing the victim to deposit into her account of RM10,000 as college fee for the victim’s child in Indonesia.

The alleged offence was committed with an accomplice who is still at large, at a bank here at 1pm on October 11, 2011.

The second charge alleged Pramila and a friend who is still at large, had deceived the same victim of another RM10,500 for the same purpose at the same place at 4pm on October 22, 2011.

Each of the offences under Section 420 of the Penal Code provides for a jail term of between one and 10 years and whipping and is also liable to a fine upon conviction.