KUCHING, Sept 3 — The man who boasted about being a human organ trafficker during a sting by a British tabloid was today sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison and ordered to be caned six times for committing criminal breach of trust (CBT).
Sessions Court Judge Steve Ritikos meted out the sentence on Shaifullizan Abdul Mutalib, 48, after the accused pleaded guilty to three charges framed under Section 409 of the Penal Code.
The accused was sentenced to five years’ jail and two strokes of the cane on each charge, with the jail sentence to run concurrently from the first mention date of the case on August 27 this year.
He was charged with committing CBT involving RM97,623.31, RM85,000 and RM66,477.94 on April 4, 2012, June 22, 2012 and Nov 16, 2012 respectively, while working as an assistant accountant at the Sarawak Insolvency Department, by issuing payment vouchers to several individuals who were unrelated to the department.
It is understood that the accused was dismissed from his job in 2013 for failing to report for work, and is said to have remained jobless since then.
Earlier, DPP Danial Ilham Kamaruddin applied for the jail sentence to be carried out consecutively for each charge, due to the serious nature of the offences and the fact that they were committed on different dates.
In mitigation, the accused, who was unrepresented by counsel, pleaded for a concurrent jail sentence, saying he needed to care for his four children as his wife is suffering from kidney disease and lung problems.
Shaifullizan caused a stir after British tabloid The Sun in a report published August 8 detailed how its reporter — under the guise of wanting to purchase a kidney for a relative in the UK who needed a transplant — met with him at a four-star hotel in the city.
During the meeting which was captured on video, Shaifullizan boasted that he had been involved in the human organ trade since 2010 and had been using Facebook since two years ago to lure poverty-stricken victims from around the world to sell their organs to desperate patients.
Following the report, police immediately launched an investigation which resulted in Shaifullizan surrendering himself on August 13.
Upon his release from a 12-day remand on August 26, he was rearrested by police and subsequently charged with committing CBT.
Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Aidi Ismail in a statement on August 26 said investigation by police found no evidence that Shaifullizan was involved in trafficking human organs, adding the suspect had made up the claims during his interview with The Sun. — Borneo Post
