SINGAPORE – A 46-year-old Malaysian who was on the run for over 20 years has been sentenced to six months’ jail effective the expiry of his existing sentence, which was meted out in 1999, for offences punishable under the Immigration Act and Penal Code.
The Singapore Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on its website said R. Siva Kumar was arrested with the help of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on March 4 last year and brought back to the republic to serve his sentence for immigration offences committed in 1999.
Siva Kumar was convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for engaging in a conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants from Singapore into Malaysia through the Woodlands checkpoint on September 24 that year, it said.
The conspiracy involved bribing an auxiliary police officer to allow buses ferrying the illegals to pass through the checkpoint without immigration clearance.
CPIB said the cop was convicted on October 5, 1999 and sentenced to 12 months’ jail and fined S$2,800 (RM8,700) for corruption, but Siva Kumar fled Singapore sometime in 1999 while out on court bail pending an appeal against his conviction and sentence.
On March 9, 2000, an arrest warrant was issued for him.
CPIB investigations revealed that in October 1999, he departed Singapore for Malaysia in the vehicle of an individual known only as “Boy”, who produced a passport belonging to somebody else at the Woodlands checkpoint to mislead the immigration officer there into believing Siva Kumar was another person.
For his actions, Siva Kumar was charged on April 16 this year with offences punishable under the Immigration Act and Penal Code.
Today, CPIB said he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months’ jail, with the term to take effect from the expiry of his sentence meted out in 1999.
“The invaluable assistance and strong support of MACC resulted in Siva Kumar’s arrest on March 4, 2020.
“CPIB is grateful for the close collaboration with MACC on this case to ensure that the offender was brought to justice.” – Bernama, June 11, 2021
