Recently, a former financial administrative assistant at the Sarawak Welfare Department (JKM) was sentenced to an astonishing 468 years in prison after being found guilty of multiple charges involving over RM16 million.
The Sessions Court also imposed a hefty fine of RM180 million on 38-year-old Mohd Zairull Arzuan Mohd Shamsuddin Ja’afar, also known as Ang Chui Thong.
If he fails to pay the fine, he will face an additional 36 months in jail and three strokes of the cane.
For the 36 charges of money laundering, he was given a 12-year prison sentence and a RM5 million fine for each, with a further one month of imprisonment for every unpaid fine.
According to Harian Metro, the sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve a minimum of 12 years in prison unless he is unable to settle the fine. If that happens, he will face an additional three years in jail.
The three charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) resulted in another 12-year jail term and a stroke of the cane for each, also served concurrently with the other sentences.
Over RM6 million laundered & RM10 million embezzled
The money laundering offences took place between 2020 and 2022, with a total of RM6,013,504.30 involved.
The criminal breach of trust, meanwhile, occurred between 2019 and 2021, involving RM10,272,350.13.
Suspicious transactions flagged the accused when his salary statement revealed that over RM4 million had been credited into his account.
Resignation before investigation deepened
At the time of his resignation, Mohd Zairull was in charge of salary simulations at the Sarawak Welfare Department.
He initially submitted his resignation for 31 January 2022, but unexpectedly brought forward his notice period and resigned on 31 December 2021, just before the investigation took a deeper turn.
The prosecution team was led by Deputy Public Prosecutors Wan Nur Amanina Wan Din, Mohd Ashrof Kamarul, and Manjira Vasudevan, while the accused was represented by lawyer Christopher Bada.
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