GEORGE TOWN, Sept 12 — Mohd Faizul Arifin from the National Registration Department (NRD) and five other people today were today hit with a 32 charges of falsifying Malaysian birth certificates and identity cards (MyKad) and selling these documents to foreigners from China.
Mohd Faizul, who is an NRD assistant director and was arrested on August 20, had the most charges at 11, nearly a third of the total.
Two of the charges are under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, four under Section 466 of the Penal Code and five under the National Registration Regulations 1990.
The 34-year-old was first charged with issuing a false MyKad to Yang Xiaohong at 4.31pm on September 20 last year which is an offence under Section 25(1)(i) of the National Registration Regulations 1990 which provides a jail term of not more than three years, or a fine of not more than RM20,000, or both, upon conviction.
He allegedly committed similar offences between 11.18am on December 27 last year and 5.17pm on May 3 this year by issuing a false MyKad to Pheh Jin Leong, Tan Xiu Xiu, Lim Hock Eng and Ewe Chor Beng.
He was also charged with forging official documentations under Section 466 of the Penal Code which carries a jail sentence of up to seven years and can be subjected to a fine, upon conviction.
He allegedly forged Malaysian birth certificates and MyKads for Ewe Chor Beng and Tan Xiu Xiu sometime between January and April this year.
Finally, he was charged with assisting in the smuggling of migrants into the country which was an offence under Section 26E of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 which carries a jail term of between seven and 15 years or a fine of not less than RM50,000 but not more than RM500,000, or both, upon conviction.
He was charged with producing forged identification documents, a Malaysian birth certificate and a MyKad to Ewe Chor Beng sometime between January and February this year.
Mohd Faizul allegedly committed all the 11 offences at the Penang NRD office in Bangunan Persekutuan at Jalan Anson.
The five others were charged under Section 26E of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 and under Section 109 of the Penal Code for abetting in other offences.
Section 109 of the Penal Code provides jail up to seven years or a fine upon conviction.
Loh Chan Cheong, 34, and Yap Cheng Wah, 44, faced four different charges respectively for allegedly selling the forged Malaysian birth certificate and MyKad to Ewe Chor Beng and abetting Mohd Faizul in forging the documents for Ewe.
Chien Guan Chai, 36, faced two charges under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 for selling forged Malaysian birth certificate and MyKad to Ewe Chor Beng.
Chien then faced another four charges under Section 109 of the Penal Code for abetting Mohd Faizul in forging birth certificates and MyKads for Ewe Chor Beng and Tan Xiu Xiu.
Mohd Faizal Tan Abdullah, 66, faced two charges under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 for selling forged Malaysian birth certificate and MyKad to Ewe Chor Beng.
Finally, Lai Chin Wah, 56, faced three charges under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 for selling a forged Malaysian birth certificate, MyKad and passport to Ewe Chor Beng.
He was also charged with abetting Mohd Faizul in forging the Malaysian birth certificate and MyKad for Ewe Chor Beng.
All 32 charges against the six were read out separately in two sessions court before judges Salha Hamzah and Mazdi Abdul Hamid.
The cases were fixed for mention on September 18.
All six men were believed to be part of a syndicate selling forged MyKad and Malaysian birth certificates to Chinese nationals.
The police revealed details of the syndicate yesterday and believed that the syndicate makes between RM100,000 to RM600,000 selling MyKads to foreigners and have arrested over 20 individuals in connection with the case.
