KUALA LUMPUR: A 38-year-old former insurance agent was fined RM14,000 by the Sessions Court here after he admitted to cheating a bank and using false documents to obtain a special loan in 2018.
Ahmad Nadzri Ab Razak pleaded guilty to cheating Bank Islam for the purpose of approving a RM150,000 loan under a special scheme offered to Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) employees.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of cheating by using fake documents for the purpose of the loan.
The offences were committed at Bank Islam Semarak branch between Sept 1 and Oct 31, 2018.
Both charges under Section 417 of the Penal Code carries imprisonment of up to two years, a fine or both, upon conviction.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Raihanah Razak urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence as a lesson for the accused and a warning to the public.
Lawyer Subash Ramasamy asked for a fine instead, and said his client was a first-time offender and was financially desperate.
Judge Norma Ismail then fined Ahmad Nadzri and ordered him to serve four months’ imprisonment if he could not pay the fine.
According to the statement of facts presented in court, a complaint was lodged by a bank officer who received a letter from Bank Islam that was addressed to a person who was not employed by the bank.
The report was lodged over concerns that the bank’s address might have been abused.
An investigation by the bank found that there was an application for a special loan for LHDN staff by one Ahmad Nadzri, who was suspected of not being a genuine LHDN employee.
Further checks with LHDN confirmed that the man was not employed by LHDN and the approval for the loan was done using fake documents.
Police probe showed Ahmad Nadzri was blacklisted and that he had engaged two other people to help him forge the documents.
