Cabbie given RM1,000 ‘witness fee’ for Chinese national’s MyKad application, court hears

GEORGE TOWN – A key witness in the MyKad sales syndicate case that rocked the country in 2019 told the Penang High Court today that a taxi driver received RM1,000 as a “witness fee” for a MyKad application by a person from China.

Police officer Johari Yahya, 39, said he received information in August 2019 relating to a female Chinese national known as Tan Xiu Xiu, who allegedly possessed a fraudulent MyKad and birth certificate.

Johari, who was then working in the operational intelligence division at the Seberang Prai Tengah district police headquarters, said upon checking it was found that the woman used the address of an apartment in Bayan Lepas.

“I then directed my officers to the residence to investigate who the real occupants of the house were.

“We later found it was occupied by a local man known as Yew Hung Yuh, who worked as a taxi driver," he said in front of judicial commissioner Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid.

Johari said the police then ordered Yew to testify to assist the investigation, and Yew revealed that he knew Tan, or real name Xu Lu Lu, through another woman only called “Auntie”.

The 14th witness said that Auntie was a regular customer of Yew and had asked for Yew’s help to be a witness for Tan to apply for the MyKad.

“Yew was promised a consolation of RM1,000,” he said. “Yew also gave Auntie’s phone number to police, and a check found that it belonged to a local woman named Faridah Tan (wife of the third accused, Mohd Faizal Tan Abdullah).”

Johari told the court that apart from Tan, the police also found a Chinese man known as Ewe Chor Beng, real name Wang Dequn, with a MyKad and a Malaysian passport.

Ewe was detained at Penang International Airport when he wanted to leave for Kuala Lumpur on August 9, 2019, he added. Ewe’s detention led to the arrest of five local men.

“Police then launched Op Biru which was carried out on a large scale around Penang, Selangor, and Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

In September 2019, the media reported that an assistant director of the Penang National Registration Department (NRD) and five other local men were charged with 32 counts of involvement in a syndicate selling MyKad and valid birth certificates to foreigners.

Mohd Faizul Arifin, 37, faces 11 charges – two under Section 26E of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, four under Section 466 of the Penal Code, and five under Rule 25(1)(i) of the Registration Rules Country 1990.

Also charged under the same section are five individuals, namely Datuk Lai Chin Wah, 59; Faizal, 69; Yap Cheng Wah, 47; Chien Guan Chai, 39; and Loh Chan Cheong, 37.

All of them were offered bail, but only Faizul could not afford to pay his bail amounting to RM20,000.

The prosecution team was led by state prosecution director Datuk Khairul Anuar Abd Halim, while all the accused were represented by their respective lawyers.

In 2019, the handling of the case was critically acclaimed after police revealed that they had successfully dismantled a syndicate selling MyKad identity documents to Chinese citizens in the state, masterminded by officers from the Penang NRD.

The case is believed to have been uncovered after an Immigration Department officer lodged a police report following a passport application by a valid MyKad holder who was found unable to communicate in Malay.

As a result, police managed to uncover the syndicate, which is believed to have made a profit of between RM100,000 to RM600,000 from the sale of the legal MyKad to foreigners.

The case continues tomorrow with a cross-examination by the lawyers. – TheVibes, June 14, 2022