Rupia at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex after she was fined RM20,000 by the Sessions Court today.
KOTA KINABALU: The Sessions Court here fined a Community Development Assistant RM20,000, in default, six months’ jail for receiving RM169,400 from a contractor, who was related to her official duties.
Judge Abu Bakar Manat imposed the non-custodial sentence on Rupia @ Rubee Gindol, 50, after she maintained her guilty plea when the case came up for sentencing today.
The accused had earlier on January 13 admitted to receiving the cash from the contractor aged 35 without anything in return at a bank branch here from 2018 until 2019.
She was convicted under Section 165 of the Penal Code which is punishable by a jail term of up to two years or a fine or both, upon conviction.
In passing the sentence, the judge among others agreed that a custodial sentence can be avoided in this pandemic time and therefore, the court was of the view that an appropriate fine should be imposed on the accused.
In pleading for a lenient sentence, the accused, who was represented by counsel Chong Kian Ming, submitted that this was her first offence.
The counsel also said his client had pleaded guilty to the said charge which had saved court’s time and she was remorseful over what she had done.
In reply, the prosecution urged court to impose an appropriate sentence to serve as a lesson to the accused and a deterrent to the public at large.
The prosecution argued that the accused had betrayed the trust given to her as a civil servant and the accused had gained wrong money, and the amount involved was quite high.
Apart from that, the prosecution also requested for the court to take into consideration the rampancy of the case which normally involved contractors and the public.