Headmaster jailed three months, fined RM20,000 for graft

KUANTAN: The Sessions Court here on Tuesday (Jan 11) sentenced a headmaster to three months in jail and a fine of RM20,000, in default 12 months’ jail, on two counts of using his office for gratification.

Judge Datuk Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain meted out the sentence on Khairul Azizi Ab Aziz, 55, after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Khairul Azizi, of Pulau Tioman, Rompin, was charged in his capacity as the then senior assistant co-curriculum teacher at Sekolah Kebangsaan Cherating here, to have used his position by proposing a company owned by his wife, Sueazizi Enterprise, to the school headmaster principal for school order payment.

It involved payments pertaining to allocation for yachts for the Pahang School Sports Council (MSSP) training worth RM1,200 on March 19, 2014 and a payment of RM700 for the yacht programme organised by the Education Ministry on Dec 15, 2014.

The charges were framed under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24 of the same act, which provides for an imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000 whichever is higher, if convicted.

In mitigation, Khairul Azizi, unrepresented, told the court that he had been in the education field for 31 years and was appointed a headmaster in 2016.

"The offence was committed when I was a senior assistant teacher and during that time, I had never attended any formal course on managing government finances. As a coach with MSSP, I tried to maximise the value of the allocation to ensure yachting was on the right track.

"The students involved were from various districts such as Rompin, Jerantut, Bentong and Kuantan. I sacrificed time and money to help them because some of them were from poor families, while yachting is quite an expensive sport.

"Throughout my involvement in the sport since 2010 until now, we have produced many athletes, including to the Olympic stage in Japan last year," he added.

Khairul Azizi, who looked calm, also informed the court that his wife was no longer working and that they had two children who are still studying in institutions of higher learning to support.

The prosecution was conducted by MACC Deputy Public Prosecutor Siti Sarah Zainal Abiddin.- Bernama