KUCHING: A 34-year-old man was handed a staggering 198 months in prison and 16 lashes of the cane as penalty for 16 counts of scamming people with travel packages to various countries.
Mohd Aszlan Mat Muda pleaded guilty before Magistrate Mason Jaro Lenya Barayan to all of the charges framed under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which carries up to 10 years imprisonment and whipping and liable to a fine, if convicted.
He committed the offence against ten different victims aged between 32 and to 54 in several places around Kuching, between March and December 2018.
Mason Jaro sentenced Aszlan to 12 months in prison and one stroke of the cane on each of 13 charges.
For the remaining three charges, he was sentenced to 14 months in prison and one stroke of the cane each.
The court ordered all the sentences to run concurrently with effect from Sept 11.
According to the facts of the case, Aszlan deceived the victims into believing that he could arrange a climbing trip to Mount Kinabalu, vacations to Kuala Lumpur, Korea, Japan, and Kashmir.
He had cheated the victims by inducing them to transfer money in stages into his personal account totaling RM16,499.76.
All of the victims lodged a police report, which subsequently led to Aszlan’s arrest Nov 12, 2020.
Insp Merylene Lindan Andrew Mang prosecuted the case while, Aszlan was not represented by counsel.
