Fadley Faisal

The Magistrate’s Court recently handed a one-year jail sentence to a Malaysian man, who had pleaded guilty to a charge of property laundering.

Tan Poh Hin, 43, represented by defence counsel Rozaiman bin Abdul Rahman, pleaded guilty to having voluntarily assisted in the removal of a luxury vehicle from Kampong Panchor Murai sometime in July this year, while believing or suspecting it to be derived from an unlawful activity; and for failing to take reasonable steps to ascertain whether it was acquired lawfully, which is a charge under the Criminal Asset Recovery Order.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhd Qamarul Affyian bin Abdul Rahman informed the court that last July, the defendant was contacted by a person whom he eventually met up with, accompanied by the owner of the SUV.

The defendant was told that the car was still under hire purchase and that the owner wanted to get rid of it, in order to evade payments. He then made arrangements with a friend from Miri, to look for a buyer.

The contact person offered to let go of the car so that it could be sold off in Miri, but only if the defendant gave him a Syabu pill first.

The following day, the defendant gave a Syabu pill to the contact person, before heading to Miri to meet with a potential buyer. The buyer agreed to the purchase deal and transferred RM20,000 to the bank account of the defendant’s wife.

The defendant then gave the contact person his share of RM3,000, by handing it to the latter’s sister in Limbang.

It was at 11.40pm on August 2, when the defendant was stopped at the Kuala Lurah Control Post, upon being identified as a person in a stop list alert issued by the immigration.

The defendant was handed to the police, and investigations were carried out immediately.

Magistrate Mohammad Marzuqi bin Sabtu presided over the case.