SIBU: A man was indicted in a Magistrate’s Court here today for being found in possession of RM17,200 which was unlawfully obtained.
Magistrate Mohd Syukri Mokhtar convicted Nelson Badindang, 24, from Selangau of the offence as charged and fined him RM500 in default seven days’ imprisonment.
The accused pleaded guilty to the charge framed under Section 37 (1) of Minor Offence Ordinance which provides for a penalty of three months’ jail and fine of RM500.
The charge against the accused mentioned that between November 1, 2018 and November 2, 2018 at about 1.42pm at a banking institution in Jalan Kampung Nyabor, he was found in his possession RM17,200 which was unlawfully obtained and he had failed to account satisfactorily on how he came to obtain such amount.
According to the fact of the case, on October 24, 2018 at a residence in Kemuyang Timur here, the complainant, aged 47, received a message from a person who introduced himself as a marine officer named Sandra Samantha Castro saying he wanted to send a gift.
On November 1, 2018, the complainant received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as a representative of KLIA Kuala Lumpur Airport Customs, telling the diplomat from Syria named Gonzales Brown Gabriel that he had arrived at KLIA with consignments to be sent to the complainant.
The customs representative informed the complainant that the shipment had been detained and needed to make some payments to be released.
The complainant was given a bank account number to complete the payment to release the goods detained by customs before being able to be sent to him.
In complying with the instructions, the complainant made a payment to the given account as many as six times through online transfer and deposited with a total amount of RM17,200 to the account in the name of Nelson Badindang.
After the payment was made, the complainant was still asked to make a dubious payment and finally realised that he had been cheated in the delivery of non-existent goods and suffered a loss of RM17,200.
Subsequently, he lodged a police report for investigation.
The court was further told that as a result of investigation, the banking institution had identified the accused to be the account holder.
The bank account statement had also verified that there were transactions made amounting to RM17,200 by the complainant.
Nelson who was unrepresented by legal counsel, opted to pay the fine.
