KUALA LUMPUR: A former administrator for Tabung Amanah Pendidikan Negeri Melaka (Tapem) has been sentenced to 584 years in jail and 146 strokes of rotan after he pleaded guilty to 146 counts of embezzlement charges involving over RM2.4 million school students’ scholarship funds.
Melaka Sessions Court judge Datuk Mohd Nasir Nordin meted out the sentence against Mohd Hanafi Ismail, 31, after all the charges and facts were read out to him, which took about two hours, Harian Metro reported.
The accused was sentenced to four years in jail and one stroke from the conviction date for every charge and all the sentences will run concurrently. This means, he will only serve a total of four years in prison and a maximum of 24 strokes of the cane.
Based on the charges, the accused, who was then the administrator and in charge of the scholarship funds for asnaf students in the state, had embezzled the money.
The offence was committed in stages between Jan 23, 2017 and Dec 21 last year, involving RM2.404 million. The offence took place at Tapem’s Financial Unit at Bangunan Kota Cemerlang in Ayer Keroh.
Mohd Hanafi was charged under Section 408 of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of 14 years and caning, if convicted.
The prosecution was done by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Deputy Public Prosecutor Irwan Shah Abdul Samat while the accused was represented by lawyer Emirul Sarifudin Nor Azmi.
In the proceedings, the prosecution also asked the court to impose appropriate sentence as the offence committed by the accused was serious and involved a huge amount of money which was supposed to be given to asnaf students in the state.
Irwan said there was no balance from the account that could be returned or seized by the MACC.
According to the facts of the case, Mohd Hanafi misused the funds by transferring the money into various bank accounts belonging to him, his friends and family during the period.
Meanwhile, Mohd Nasir in his ruling asked for the accused to repent and promise not to repeat the crime, as well as to return the money to the government, if any.
The accused was remanded by the MACC on Jan 12 to assist in investigation into the case and he was charged on Oct 28.