Seven years, three strokes for post office branch manager — CBT

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KOTA KINABALU: A Menumbok post office branch manager was yesterday sentenced to seven years’ jail with three strokes of the cane for committing criminal breach of trust involving RM23,301.09.

Mohd Hairul Ag Marhamin, 30, received the punishment from Sessions Court judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamad when he pleaded guilty to the charge under Section 408 of the Penal Code.

After the charge was read to him in open court, Hairul admitted to committing the offence between January 16, 2015 and October 13 of the same year, in his capacity as the branch manager of the post office.

Upon conviction, the indictment provides for a maximum jail term of 14 with whipping and a fine.

Before the judge delivered her verdict, Hairul prayed for leniency on the grounds that he has a wife and child who are depending on him. He added that he was deep in debt and there is no way his wife can pay off the debts on her own.

In reply, deputy public prosecutor Hafizah Zahidah Abdullah contended that the accused had committed a serious offence as he had betrayed the trust of his employer, which resulted in monetary loss.

Hafizah therefore urged the court to impose a heavy sentence after applying that public interest should be taken into consideration in meting out a punishment.

According to the facts of the case, the complainant, who is a domestic retail postal coach, conducted an audit inspection on October 13 last year at the Menumbok post office and he discovered a deficit of RM23,301.09.

The complainant then lodged a police report, which led to the arrest of the accused on May 9 this year.

Investigations then found that the accused, in his capacity as branch manager, did not record any sales in the daily cash collection system to be forwarded to the Beaufort Post Office in a given span of one week.

Instead, it was found that the accused only recorded the sales manually by filling in a statement form.

Further investigations later discovered that the Beaufort Post Office did not receive any money from the Menumbok branch, contrary to what was recorded manually by the accused through the form.