KUALA LUMPUR: A Chinese national was convicted of cheating after he staged the kidnapping of a friend and collected a ransom of five million yuan (RM2.9mil) from his friend’s mother.
Zhang Runbao, 23, who is an undergraduate of a university in Singapore, was fined RM17,000 by the Sessions Court here after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge yesterday.
Judge Azrul Darus also ordered Zhang to serve six months in jail if he fails to pay the fine.
According to the alternative charge, Zhang had cheated Cheng Zhiwen, who is the mother of Ye Yingxi, by making a phone call and showing a video of Ye being kidnapped.
In the video, according to the charge, Ye was half-naked with his hands tied and mouth taped with a black plaster, choked and his body stomped on and his face doused with water.
The court was further told that Zhang contacted Cheng to deposit the ransom into a bank account in China and all the actions, which were staged, had induced Cheng to hand over the money.
The offence was committed at a hotel in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman between 11.44am and 9.15pm on May 2.
The charge under Section 417 of the Penal Code provides for a maximum five-year jail, a fine or both, upon conviction.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Noor Syafina Radzuan asked the court to mete out a just sentence that would serve as a lesson to the accused and the public in general to not repeat the offence.
For Ye, who is the second accused in the case, the prosecution sought a discharge not amounting to an acquittal since Zhang had pleaded guilty.
Lawyer Ernie Sulastri Ahmad, who represented Zhang, pleaded for a lenient sentence as her client is a first-time offender and his guilty plea had saved the court’s cost and time.
Lawyer Ramesh Sivakumar, who represented Ye, asked the court to discharge and acquit his client on grounds that Ye’s mother, Cheng, did not wish to pursue the case and had withdrawn the police report against her son.
The court allowed the prosecution’s application to grant Ye a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
