KOTA KINABALU: An undocumented man was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment by the magistrate's court here for using a fake letter allegedly from the Home Ministry as his identification.
Samei Jul @ Adzmi Bin Abdul, 34, pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 471 of the Penal Code before magistrate Stephanie Sherron Abbie today.
The charge is punishable under Section 465 of the same code, which provides a jail term of up two years or a fine or both, upon conviction.
Samei admitted to fraudulently using a fake entry permit payment instruction letter dated Dec 23, 2021, on July 13 between 9am and 10.45am in front of Taman Awam, Tanjung Lipat, here.
The facts of the case stated that the accused was nabbed at a roadblock during a special operation in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidiladha.
When asked by the authorities to show his identification, the accused gave the fake document. He also showed a copy of a payment receipt as a supporting document to the fake letter.
In mitigation, the unrepresented accused told the court that he has dependants and asked for his jail sentence to run from the date of arrest.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Arif Aizuddin Masrom urged for a deterrent sentence as a lesson to the accused and to deter others from committing such an offence.
He also informed the court that the accused would be charged in the Sessions Court soon for entering the state illegally.
The court ordered the jail sentence to run from the date of arrest on July 13 and thereafter, for the accused to be referred to the Immigration Department for deportation.