KUCHING: The Magistrate’s Court here today sentenced a foreign man to a fine of RM 10,000 or four months’ jail in default for engaging in online gambling activities.
Magistrate Syarifah Fatimah Azura Wan Ali sentenced Saepul, 29, from West Java, Indonesia after he pleaded guilty to a charge that was read to him by an interpreter.
He was charged with operating a gambling machine which is a mobile phone at a premises in Jalan Penrissen here, at about 3.45pm, on July 19.
Therefore, the accused was charged with unlicensed online gambling under Section 4B(a) of the Open Gambling House Act 1953 and if found guilty he can be fined a minimum of RM10,000 and a maximum of RM100,000 for each gambling machine and can be sentenced to serve time in jail not exceeding five years.
Based on the facts of the case, a team of police officers from the Padawan district police headquarters’ Criminal Investigation Department (IPD) conducted an inspection and raid on the premises to identify those doing gambling activities.
Further inspection led to the discovery of some equipment suspected of being used to carry out online gambling activities, namely a mobile phone and a cash of RM100 before arresting the accused.
The result of the gambling expert’s analysis also found that the cell phone belonging to the accused is a gambling machine as stated in section 2 of the Open Gambling House Act (ARJT) 1953.
The prosecution of the case was handled by Prosecuting Officer ASP Rogayah Rosli while the accused was not represented by a lawyer.
