Businessman fined RM56,000 for being 'tonto' in Melaka

MELAKA: A 51-year-old businessman was slapped with a RM56,000 fine by the Sessions Court in Ayer Keroh here for acting as a "tonto (informant)" against the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and accepting graft from eight transportation companies since 2017.

The fine was imposed by Judge Elesabet Paya Wan on Tuesday (Dec 5) after the accused Norsham Ahmad pleaded guilty to 20 counts of charges of accepting RM34,855 from the eight companies over the past six years.

He had received all the payments through online transactions by using his interest to act as a "middleman" to induce a JPJ officer from not taking action against lorries belonging to the companies concerned under the Road Transport Act 1987.

The offences were committed between January of 2017 to March of 2021 at various locations in the state.

The charges were framed under Section 163 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of up to one year or a fine or both, if convicted.

Based on the statement of facts, the accused had formed a racket with two JPJ officers to protect the eight transportation companies on various offences such as overloading.

The middleman would give these “customers” a special sticker that would be placed on the lorries and when the JPJ officers spotted it, they would not take action.

The accused was represented by lawyer Hafizatul Shahirah Jamari while prosecution was carried out by Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir.

The accused paid the fine.