KUALA TERENGGANU (BERNAMA) – A former headmistress of a primary school in the Marang district in Malaysia was charged in the Sessions Court yesterday with 15 counts of abetting to cheat and submitting false documents related to the supply of food and drinks to students and a cleaning contract involving MYR500,319.
Zalina Bidin, 47, pleaded not guilty to all the charges before Judge Mohd Azhar Othman.
She was charged with 12 counts of abetment by way of criminal conspiracy with the school’s senior administrative assistant and an agent of a supply company to cheat by submitting false documents for the supply of food and drinks to the school between May 2, 2022, and February 20, 2023.
This resulted in the school issuing 12 cheques for about MYR500,000.
The charge, under Sections 420 and 190 of the Penal Code, provides imprisonment for up to 10 years and with whipping and a fine, if convicted
The woman was also charged with three counts of abetting by way of criminal conspiracy with a supervisor of a cleaning company by submitting the verification form on the number of employees and attendance records of workers that contained false details.
The document was used to claim payment for the salary of the workers concerned despite them never showing up for work.
Zalina was charged under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 with intending to deceive her principal with the offence allegedly committed at her school from July to September 2022.
She faced imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the false or erroneous or defective material particular, where such false or erroneous or defective material particular is capable of being valued, or of a pecuniary nature, or MYR10,000, whichever is the higher upon conviction.
Judge Mohd Azhar allowed the woman bail of MYR25,000 with one surety for all charges with one surety and also ordered her to surrender her passport to the court and report to the Terengganu MACC office every month.
