Haj tour directors charged

Source: The Star

SEREMBAN: A couple who were directors of a tour company offering haj pilgrimage packages claimed trial in the Magistrate's Court here to 51 counts of failing to comply with awards made by the Consumer Claims Tribunal to return RM473,730 to 17 individuals.

Datuk Zulkarnain Endut and Datin Mazuin Mustafa, both 43, pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out to them before magistrate Noor Hafizah Ishak.

The duo, who were directors of Emraz Travel and Tours Sdn Bhd, allegedly committed the offences at the Consumer Claims Tribunal office in Seremban 2 between May 29 and Sept 13 last year.

Each of the charges was framed under Section 117(1) of the Consumer Protection Act 1999, which carries a fine of up to RM10,000, a jail term of up to two years or both, upon conviction.

They were first jointly slapped with 17 charges as representatives of the company.

As directors, they were then separately charged with the same 17 offences.

Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry deputy public prosecutor Shafiq Mahadi asked the court to set a bail of RM2,000 for each charge or RM34,000 for each of the accused for the individual charges.

"The accused are facing many charges involving individuals who were looking forward to performing their umrah.

"They are also facing similar charges in other states, including Sabah and Sarawak," he said.

He said the duo should also be made to report at the state Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Department office here once a month.

"They have also been charged with 63 similar offences at the Putrajaya Magistrate's Court and another 53 at the Kota Baru court," added Shafiq.

Datuk Hanif Hassan, who represented the couple, asked the court to use its discretion to impose a bond instead of bail as provided under Section 387(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

"They have already forked out money to post bail at the Putrajaya and Kota Baru courts where they were charged prior to this.

"They are also not a flight risk as they are facing more charges at the tribunal as well as other civil cases," he said.

Hanif said his clients were working hard to repay some of the individuals but if the court imposed a RM2,000 bail for each charge, they would be sent to jail as they would not be able to raise the bail money.

He said his clients were also facing serious financial problems after losing their operating licence.

"If bail is to be imposed, I ask that the court be guided by the amount imposed by the Putrajaya and Kota Baru courts," he said.

Hanif said the Putrajaya Magistrate's Court imposed a total bail of RM6,300 for 63 charges faced by the couple while the Kota Baru court set bail at RM10,200 for 51 charges.

"So, the range for each charge is between RM100 and RM150," he said.

Deputy public prosecutor Suhana Mohd, who assisted Shafiq, said the court was not tied to the amount of bail set by the Putrajaya and Kota Baru courts.

"The RM2,000 bail we are asking for each charge isn't high. This is because both have pending charges," she said.

Suhana said both had also failed to show up when their cases first came up for mention at the Putrajaya, Kota Baru and Seremban Magistrate's Courts.

Hanif then got up and said they were unable to do so as the notice given to his clients to attend court was too short.

Magistrate Noor Hafizah set bail at RM500 for each charge and set April 25 for remention.

When met outside the court later, Suhana said each of the accused would have to post RM8,500 in bail.