Local discharged as fugitive criminal

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KOTA KINABALU: A 48-year-old local is now a free man after the Sessions Court here yesterday discharged him as a fugitive criminal in custody.

Judge Ainul Shahrin Mohammad made the decision after a representation made by the family of Manuel K. Amalilio @ Mohammad Kamal Sa’aid to the Minister of Home Affairs under Section 47 of the Extradition Act 1992 was granted.

The prosecution informed the court that there was an instruction from the minister not to extradite Mohammad Kamal to the Philippines.

The same court then dismissed an application by the prosecution to extradite Mohammad Kamal made under Section 18 and 19 of the Extradition Act 1992.

Deputy public prosecutor Nazran Sham appeared for the prosecution while counsels Ram Singh, YS Lo and Timothy Daut represented Mohammad Kamal.

Also present in court was Alvin C. Malasig, a representative who held a watching brief for the Philippines Embassy.

On February 4, 2013, Muhammad Kamal, who was charged with possessing a Philippine passport, was sentenced to two years’ jail by the Magistrate’s Court here.

Magistrate Nuruhuda Mohd Yusof imposed the sentence on him after he pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 12 (1) (d) of the Passport Act 1966 which is punishable by a maximum fine of RM10,000 or a jail term of up to two years, or both, upon conviction.

At that time, the proceedings was held at a male medical ward in Queen Elizabeth Hospital One here where the accused was admitted, believed for liver problems.

He was caught for committing the offence at Terminal Two of Kota Kinabalu International Airport on January 25, 2013.

The charge stated Mohammad Kamal did possess the Philippine passport under the name of Amililio Manuel Karingal bearing the numbers XX4025549 which he had obtained from a fake statement declaration.

The magistrate had ordered him to serve his jail sentence from the date of his arrest on January 25, 2013.

It was reported in the newspaper that the police had arrested Mohammad Kamal, who was allegedly the mastermind of a Philippine investment scam and had fled to Sabah after allegedly cheating 15,000 Filipinos of nearly 12 billion pesos (RM895 million) in November, 2012.

The then State Police Commissioner, Datuk Hamza Taib, revealed that police detained Mohammad Kamal in Ranau but it was for possession of suspected fake Malaysian identification documents.

Hamza said that Mohammad Kamal was arrested over “identity issues” and not the investment scam in the Philippines.

In November 2012, the Philippine police launched a manhunt for Mohammad Kamal, purportedly a Malaysian from Sabah who went by a different name in the Philippines.