KUANTAN: For more than a year, two Pahang State Secretary's Office staff members have been allegedly misusing their employee identification numbers to make modifications to the list of "Datuk" and "Datuk Seri" recipients in the Pahang state honours and awards management system.
The duo — an operations assistant and administrative assistant aged 36 and 30, respectively — were believed to be the main suspects behind the sales of the fake honorific titles.
Their scheme ran into trouble on Oct 12 last year, when a staff member of the Prime Minister Department's Ceremonial Unit contacted the Pahang State Secretary's Office after an individual turned up at the former's office in Putrajaya.
The man had requested for his name to be included in the Prime Minister's Department medal and awards record system.
A Pahang State Secretary's Office employee suspected something amiss following checks on the Pahang state honours and awards management system, as the individual's name was part of the list, but was missing in the master list provided by the Pahang State Secretary's Office Ceremonial and Official Event Management Unit.
State police chief Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said the situation raised questions, prompting the employee to conduct further checks on the database of recipients under the Pahang state honours and awards management system.
"Detailed checks were conducted to identify the names that were not supposed to be in the management list and the matching process revealed the names and personal information of 29 individuals. Their names were listed in the system to be conferred with the 'Datuk' and 'Datuk Seri' titles," he said, adding that a report was lodged over the matter.
Ramli said investigations led to the arrest of the suspects, who misused their staff identification number to access the Pahang state honours and awards management system to carry out unauthorised modifications without the permission of the management.
"The operations assistant was believed to have keyed in the names of 26 people, while the second accused had included three other names.
"The 29 names belonged to individuals who are not supposed to be included in the list (management system) or receive any award from the Pahang sultan (Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah).
"Police have questioned the 29 individuals, aged between 40 and 60, who had allegedly purchased the fake DIMP (Darjah Indera Mahkota Pahang ) awards, which carries the title of 'Datuk', and the SSAP (Sri Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang) awards, which carries the title of 'Datuk Seri'.
"The individuals from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor had paid between RM80,000 and RM150,000 to obtain the titles," he told reporters at the Kuantan police headquarters here today.
He said police had seized various items from the 29 people, including SSAP and DIMP car emblems, award letters, sashes and medals.
Ramli said state title and award recipients were those who have been scrutinised by the Pahang government and each of them will have to undergo a stringent process before they are eligible for the titles.
"Do not blindly trust individuals claiming to be agents who offer titles and awards at a certain rate. The suspects had provided various unauthorised emblems, sashes and medals to the 29 individuals. It is an offence to buy or use fake car emblems," he said, adding that the police required some time to conduct a detailed probe on the incident, which led to the arrest of the two suspects.
He said both suspects were being investigated under Section 5(1) of the Computer Crimes Act 1997 for unauthorised modification of the contents of a computer, which carries a fine of up to RM100,000 or up to seven years' jail, or both.