KUALA LUMPUR – A jobless man was today jailed eight months by the sessions court here for posing as a special officer to the deputy communications and multimedia minister, to dupe a woman by promising to help her production company obtain a grant.
Judge Rozina Ayob meted out the sentence to Mohd Zafir Zainuddin, 38, who pleaded guilty to deceiving Noorul Syakillah Ramli by claiming he was the deputy minister’s aide and promising to obtain a National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) grant for the film Rampas.
He convinced the victim to hand over RM5,000 in cash at a restaurant in Precinct 9, Putrajaya, at 5.15pm last Thursday.
The charge is under Section 416 of the Penal Code.
The court ordered the accused to serve his jail term from the date of his arrest on Thursday.
Based on the facts of the case, Noorul Syakillah, owner of Cinema Stage Production Sdn Bhd, applied for a grant for Rampas, valued at RM1.8 million, from Finas.
She contacted Zafir on March 26 via WhatsApp to obtain a letter of support from the deputy communications and multimedia minister for the grant.
On March 31, Zafir demanded 5% of the total grant amount of RM1.8 million, and Noorul Syakillah agreed to pay 2%, plus RM5,000, after Zakir claimed to have obtained the deputy minister’s signature and gave an assurance that her company will secure the grant.
Noorul Syakillah lodged a complaint with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday, and the accused was arrested the same day.
Checks with the ministry showed that Zafir is not who claimed to be, and investigations showed that Cinema Stage’s application for a grant was rejected by Finas on March 23.
The prosecution was conducted by MACC deputy public prosecutor Azeem Hafeez Jamaluddin, while Zafir was unrepresented. – Bernama, April 6, 2021
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