KUANTAN: A seafood wholesale company and its three directors were charged in the Sessions Court here on Thursday (June 4) with 160 counts of buying 946,234 litres of subsidised diesel from fishermen without a wholesale licence, worth more than RM1.5mil, in 2024.
Atong Fishing Sdn Bhd, represented by its three directors, namely Cheng Chor Tong, 73, and two sons, Cheng Thee Yong, 49, and Cheng Thee How, 46, as the suspects, pleaded not guilty to all charges before Judge Sazlina Safie.
The company and the three directors involved were each charged with 40 separate counts of dealing in the purchase of controlled goods, namely diesel, worth between RM17,620.35 and RM72,540.60, without a wholesale licence.
The act was allegedly committed at the Rompin Area Fishermen's Association, Kuala Rompin, from 15 Jan to 17 Oct 2024.
The charges were brought under Subregulation 3(1) of the Control of Supplies Regulations 1974 and is punishable under Subsection 22(2) of the Control of Supplies Act 1961, which provides for a fine of up to RM2mil and for a second or subsequent offence a maximum fine of RM5mil, if convicted.
In the proceedings, the deputy public prosecutor of the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry, Munirah Shamsudin@Baharum, proposed a high bail amount on the grounds that the case of subsidised diesel fraud by fishermen was an issue of public interest that was taken seriously by the government.
However, lawyer Anasuha Atiqah Mat Saidi, who represented all three, requested that the court apply the existing bail that had been set in her client's previous case since both cases were interrelated.
Sazlina then ordered bail of RM45,000 for each person, with the additional condition of reporting to the Pahang branch of the ministry's office every month, as previously set by the court, to be applied to all new charges on Thursday.
The court also set August 20 as the date for the case to be mentioned again for the submission of documents.
On May 13, the company and three of its directors were also charged in court with 164 charges of buying subsidised diesel from fishermen without a license and storing the fuel in excess of the permitted quantity, totalling more than two million litres worth RM3.3mil.
The prosecution on Thursday was also conducted by deputy public prosecutor Munirah and prosecuting officer Nor Amri Mohamad Nawi. – Bernama
