The High Court here today sentenced a former Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) clerk for cheating in the matter of import permits after the prosecution successfully appealed the case.
Judge Datuk Ghazali Cha in handing down the sentence, said the Sessions Court judge who had acquitted Armila Ahmad, 32, had erred in his judgement.
Ghazali ordered Armila to be jailed three years for securing nine vehicle import permits through deceitful means and two years each for three counts of deceiving three officers of the ministry into authorising them.
However, the jail sentences were ordered to run concurrently from today.
In his judgement, Ghazali said Armila’s defence in the Sessions Court had been pure fabrication.
He said the clerk was responsible for the printing of the permits as she had access to the identification codes and passwords of other clerks using the computerised system for producing them.
“There is no reason for the other clerks involved to lie to put the accused in a difficult position,” he said, adding that the three officers who put their authorised signatures on the permits had also identified Armila as the person who had brought them to be signed.
Following the verdict, defence counsel Zaki Ezar Bahar applied for a stay of the sentences pending appeal.
Ghazali granted the application but set bail at RM20,000, payable in two instalments, RM10,000 immediately and the balance before Dec 1.
The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutor Hashley Tajudin.
On Sept 30 last year, the Sessions Court had acquiited and discharged Armila from all the four charges.
The offences were committed at the Ministry’s offices in Jalan Duta here between July 25, 2002 and July 17, 2003.
– Bernama
CJMY
Shufiyan Shukur
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