Ex-JPJ deputy head fined RM2,000 for driving on emergency lane

PUTRAJAYA: The former Road Transport Department (JPJ) deputy chief who drove on the emergency lane was slapped with a maximum RM2,000 fine for the offence but he was all smiles after the court passed the sentence.

The prosecutor had argued and asked for a maximum sentence which included jail time but the court finally meted out the maximum fine on Datuk Yusoff Ayob (pic), far more than the previous RM600 fine.

Yusoff, who paid the fine, declined to comment when approached and left it to his lawyer to give a statement to reporters.

Lawyer Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu, when asked whether the court’s decision would affect Yusoff’s term of service, he said the latter had only committed a normal traffic offence.

“This offence cannot be registered under the crime registry,” he said, as Yusoff stood next to him, calm and smiling.

 

Yusoff, who was the JPJ deputy director-general, was transferred to the Public Service Department on July 21.

Magistrate Muhammad Zaki Abd Kudos found Yusoff, 58, guilty of committing the offence at the Ling-karan Putrajaya emergency lane in Putrajaya at 6.27pm on Oct 7, 2016.

Previously, on July 18, Yusoff was fined RM600 after being charged in another magistrate’s court. But he did not present himself in court and had instead sent his special officer to plead guilty on his behalf.

On July 21, the Kuala Lumpur High Court through judicial commissioner Ab Karim Ab Rahman ordered him to be charged with the offence again after revising the earlier decision of the magistrate’s court.

Yusoff claimed trial to the charge of violating Rule 53(1) of the Road Traffic Rule 1959, under Section 119(1)(c) punishable under Section 119(2) of the Road Transport Act 1987, which carries a fine of not more than RM2,000 or imprisonment of not more than six months upon conviction.

In yesterday’s proceedings, deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Izzat Fauzan urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, with a fine and prison time.

He cited the case of former mentri besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo who was jailed 12 months for abusing his position as a public servant to obtain two plots of land for a price much lower than the market rate.

Muhammad Izzat said that Yusoff needed to be held to a higher standard as JPJ’s second-highest ranking officer, whose poor behaviour would send the wrong message to the public.

In mitigation, Baljit Singh reminded the court that the charge was not under the Penal Code but only a traffic offence.