Businessman pleads guilty to cheating, sentenced to 92 years’ jail, 44 strokes of rotan

SIBU: A businessman was sentenced to 92 years’ jail and 44 strokes of rotan by the magistrate's court on Thursday (Nov 21), after he pleaded guilty to 44 charges of cheating.

However, the accused, Ling Tzer Sheng, 29, only had to serve 40 months imprisonment after Magistrate Muhammad Faizal Che Saad ordered that the sentences be run concurrently but the 44 strokes of rotan still stand.

He is to serve the sentence in Bintulu prison.

In his mitigation plea read by defence counsel Elaine Ting, the accused had pleaded for leniency on several grounds.

He said he had not gained anything from the scam and his family had sold property and vehicles to pay off the two complainants in the case.

He added that he was the sole breadwinner and that his son was just born on Nov 11.

He said by pleading guilty to all charges, he was saving court time and costs.

Deputy public prosecutor, Inspector Awang Iswandi, however, pressed for a deterrent sentence, saying that the accused had a previous conviction.

According to the facts of the case, the accused had, between November 2017 and November 2018, asked two men, aged 22 and 26, to invest in a fertiliser business that did not exist.

He had told them that money from investors would be used to buy and sell fertilisers and the profits would be shared among the investors.

They were also promised 10% profit within seven days of their investment.

The first complainant, surnamed Yii, had invested a total of RM313,270 in the business, who only received the 10% profit once.

The second complainant, Ngu, made a payment of RM56,000 to the so-called business.

He did not receive any profit from the investment, as the accused went missing in January 2019 and could not be contacted.

Ling was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.