MELAKA – A businessman was today charged at the Ayer Keroh sessions court here with three counts of submitting false claims to the Social Security Organisation (Socso) for PenjanaKerjaya 2.0 incentives, involving a sum of RM1,123,030.
The accused, Mohd Eszahar Mansor, 38, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out before judge Elesabet Paya Wan.
For the first charge, Eszahar, with the intention of deceiving the Melaka Socso employment service officer, Nurshahera Nordin, produced the names of 19 individuals, purportedly employees of Eszahar Maju Enterprise, into the PenjanaKerjaya 1.0 system at Melaka Socso’s employment service officer unit on October 10, 2020.
For the second and third charges, Eszahar is accused of producing the names of 49 and 35 individuals, who are not Eszahar Maju Enterprise employees, into the PenjanaKerjaya 1.0 and 2.0 systems, on October 6, 2020, and April 21, 2021, at the same place.
All charges are framed under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, and punishable under Section 24(2) of the same act, which provides for 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, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Azriff Firdaus Mohamad Ali proposed bail of RM30,000 for all three charges, with an additional condition that the accused must report to the Negri Sembilan MACC office once a month until the disposal of the case.
Lawyer Azrul Zulkifli Stork, representing the accused, appealed for lower bail on the grounds that his income is only RM5,000 a month and he has to support his wife who is still studying, as well as two school-going children, apart from looking after his parents.
The court allowed bail of RM30,000 in one surety for all three charges and set February 10 for mention.
The accused was also ordered to report to the Negri Sembilan MACC office once a month until the disposal of the case. – Bernama, January 26, 2023
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