KUCHING: A former assistant officer from the Sarawak Welfare Department was sentenced to 468 years in prison and fined RM180mil, in default 36 months' imprisonment, for money laundering and criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving over RM16mil.
Sessions Court judge Musli Ab Hamid sentenced Mohd Zairull Arzuan Mohd Shamsuddin Ja'afar @ Ang Chui Thong, 38, after he pleaded guilty to 36 charges of money laundering and three charges of CBT on Wednesday (April 9).
For the money laundering offences, Mohd Zairull was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a RM5mil fine for each count, with the sentences running concurrently. Meanwhile, for the CBT charges, he received 12 years in prison and one stroke of the rotan for each charge, also running concurrently.
The offences involved over RM6mil in money laundering between 2020 and 2022 and over RM10mil in CBT between 2019 and 2021.
He was charged with money laundering offences under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, which is punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act.
The CBT charges were framed under Section 409 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of two to 20 years in prison with caning or fine upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutors Wan Nur Amanina Wan Din, Mohd Ashrof Kamarul and Manjira Vasudevan led the prosecution, while Mohd Zairull was represented by counsel Christopher Bada. – Bernama
