The enhancement of a sentence serves the public interest and upholds the integrity of the judiciary against wrongful acts, confirming severe penalties for corruption.

Introduction

[1] This is an appeal against the decision of the Learned Magistrate sitting in Batu Pahat, given on 23 June 2019 whereby the Learned Magistrate convicted the Appellant on a Charge under s 420 Penal Code and sentenced the Appellant to 2 years imprisonment and 4 strokes of the rattan. The appeal is against both conviction and sentence.

[2] The Appellant was charged at the instance of the Public Prosecutor and the Charge against him is as follows:

(English Translation)

That you, on 23 August 2017 at about 1320 hours, at Maybank Cawangan Batu Pahat, Jalan Zabedah in the District of Batu Pahat, in the State of Johore, cheat one Lee Kak Hai (NRIC 571010-015097) by deceiving the said Lee Kak Hai into believing that he must pay RM8,000.00 as payment of bribe money to a Judge in Johor Bahru Court so that the case of Custom Goods and Service Tax (GST) of Syarikat Fu Hai Haulage Trading Sdn Bhd, which belong to the said Lee Kak Hai, would not be brought to Court and you had thereby dishonestly induced the said Lee Kak Hai to deposit a sum of money amounting to RM8,000.00 into the Maybank Berhad account belonging to Mohd Hairudin bin Mat Halik with the account number 1511-3783-0400, which the said Lee Kak Hai would not have done, if it had not been for the deception by you and you have thereby committed an offence under s 420 Penal Code which is punishable under the same.

[3] The prosecution called 6 witnesses to the stand, to support its case, who are:

PW1 - Jabar bin Manaf

PW2 - Inspector Lim Yen Jee

PW3 - Lee Tee Lun

PW4 - Lee Kak Hai

PW5 - Mohd Hairudin bin Mat Halik

PW6 - Inspector Romizah binti Minsin

[4] At the end of the prosecution's case, the Learned Magistrate made a maximum evaluation on the prosecution's case and found that the prosecution succeeded in proving a prima facie case and ordered the Appellant to enter his defence.

[5] The Defence called 2 witnesses who are:

DW1 - the Appellant himself who gave evidence on oath and

DW2 - his wife by the name of Zuraini binti Omar.

[6] At the end of the Defence case, the Learned Magistrate found that the prosecution succeeded in proving a case beyond all reasonable doubt and convicted the Appellant.

Background Facts

Prosecution's Evidence Is As Follows:

[7] PW4 is the owner of a business that runs by the name and style of Syarikat Fu Hai Haulage Trading Sdn Bhd ("PW4's company") whose address is at Lot 5596-5597 Kg Koris Tanjung Labuh Batu 9, Batu Pahat, Johore. Sometime in the year 2017, the Appellant contacted PW4 and introduced himself as Mohammad and claimed that he worked as a Customs Officer.

[8] In that telephone conversation, the Appellant informed PW4 that he wishes to discuss on the outstanding Goods and Services Tax ("GST") that PW4's company owed to the Royal Malaysian Customs Department. There were many phone calls or text messages between PW3 or PW4 with the Appellant.

[9] In July 2017, there was an outstanding sum of the company's GST amounting to RM53,334.22 and the GST number of the company is 001277575168.

[10] The Appellant told PW4 that he is able to give discounts to both PW3 and PW4 on the payment of GST. PW3 is the son of PW4. In the month of August 2017, the Appellant invited PW4 and his son PW3 to come over to the Royal Malaysian Customs Office ("Customs Office") at Menara Kastam Building Larkin in Johor Bahru ("JB") to meet up and discuss the outstanding GST of PW4's company.

[11] The meeting however, did not take