KUALA LUMPUR – A businessman pleaded not guilty in the sessions court here today to six charges of submitting false documents to the Social Security Organisation (Socso) to claim incentives under the PenjanaKerjaya 2.0 programme amounting to RM1.26 million.
According to the six charges, M. Karthikesan, 44, who is the owner of Fajaa Murudana Sdn Bhd, was alleged to have submitted the Employee Verification Form for the Employee Recruitment Incentive Programme, dated May 12 and 25, and June 4, 2021, containing false information on behalf of the company to three Socso officials.
He was charged with intending to deceive Socso by giving the names of 34 employees who were actually not employees of Fajaa Murudana.
Karthikesan was charged with committing the offence at Wisma Perkeso, Jalan Tun Razak here and at Persiaran Perdana Precinct 2, Putrajaya, between May 19 to August 3, 2021.
The charges were framed under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 and punishable under Section 24(2) of the same law, which provides imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine not less than five times the value of the subject matter of the offence or RM10,000 whichever is higher, if convicted.
Judge Azura Alwi allowed him bail of RM50,000 with one surety. He was also ordered to surrender his passport to the court and report himself at the Selangor MACC office.
The court set March 1 for mention.
Deputy public prosecutor from MACC Mohamad Fadhly Mohd Zamry prosecuted, while lawyer S. Vijaya represented the accused.
On January 13, Karthikesan pleaded not guilty to nine counts of committing a similar offence, involving false claims amounting to more than RM1.4 million. – Bernama, January 17, 2023
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