KUALA LUMPUR: A businessman has been sentenced to two years' jail and a RM300,000 fine for illegally possessing a framed tiger skin.
Traffic South-East Asia reported on social media on Thursday (Feb 5) that a court here found the man, identified as Datuk Seri Ng Sing Huat by Bernama, guilty but stayed the prison sentence pending appeal.
It read that judge Mohd Zaki Mohd Salleh ordered the fine to be paid, the bail raised and Ng's passport to be withheld.
The framed tiger skin was seized in August 2022 following a public tip-off.
It was subsequently determined through DNA testing to be genuinely that of a tiger.
The 49-year-old accused faced one charge under Section 68(1)(b) of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, which carries a jail term of up to five years, and a fine of between RM100,000 and RM500,000, if found guilty.
Ng claimed trial to the charge in March 2024.
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In mitigation, Ng's lawyer Hasshahari Johari Mawi argued that the offence was one of "illegally keeping" and not of killing, snaring, injuring, caging or catching the animal.
Deputy public prosecutor Amanina Mohd Anuar argued that the tiger was a silent victim, unable to defend itself against poachers or seek justice in court.
She stressed the heightened threat to already critically endangered tigers, leading to Malaysia raising both jail and fines allowed under the law.
In delivering his sentence, judge Zaki acknowledged the importance of the government policy to protect wildlife including tigers.
He also acknowledged the tiger's circumstance as a silent victim.
He said the sentence should serve as a reminder to others not to do the same and for everyone to extend the sympathy and empathy they have for their pets to wild animals.
Tigers are heavily targeted by poaching and trafficking worldwide, with Malaysia estimating its population of wild tigers to be less than 150 individuals.
All parts of tigers are in demand for a wide variety of uses ranging from purported traditional cures to decoration.
