Photo shows the Miri Court Complex. — Photo by Jenifer Laeng
MIRI (Aug 22): The Magistrates’ Court here today fined an institution of higher learning student RM500 in default two weeks’ jail for unlawful possession of money.
Magistrate Nazira Adlin Ahmad Khairul Razi meted out the sentence against Tan Xing Yuh, 20, from Johor after she pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 37 (1) of the Sarawak Minor Offences Ordinance 1958, which carries an imprisonment of three months or a RM500 fine.
Tan had unlawfully possessed RM6,034.60 on June 8, this year
Based on the facts of the case, Tan was arrested in Johor around 8.30pm on Aug 1, this year after a woman lodged police report claiming that she had been deceived by a non-existent tour package offer.
In her report, the woman claimed she had found a tour package advertisement on Facebook offering a four-day-and-three-night trip to Kapalai Resort in Semporna, Sabah by a travel agency at a price of RM799 per person.
She then transferred RM5,554.60 from her account to an account under Tan’s name at 4.49pm on June 8, this year to pay for the tour package for seven persons to go to the resort from Aug 25 to 28, this year.
The complainant, who was also offered a tour activity to see turtles swimming in the sea for a fee of RM80 per person, transferred another RM480 to the same account at 5.45pm on the same day.
She only realised that she had been deceived after finding out that the flight ticket booking number given by the tour agency did not exist.
A check found that RM6,034.60 had been transferred into Tan’s bank account on June 8, this year.
Insp Mudzilawati Abdul Rahman prosecuted the case while Tan was unrepresented by counsel.