Four individuals charged with submitting false claims totalling RM504,460 to Socso

KUALA LUMPUR - Four individuals were charged in three separate Sessions Courts here today for submitting false documents to the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) to claim incentives under the Penjana Kerjaya Programme 2.0 amounting to RM504,460.

NVDS Technology Sdn Bhd CEO, Md Zaidi Muhammad, 45, pleaded not guilty to one charge, while former company director for Lan Trading & Construction Con and Haz Printing Sdn Bhd, Mohamed Hazzri Mohamed Amin, 45, pleaded not guilty to two charges before Judge Rozina Ayob,

According to the charges, Md Zaidi allegedly submitted the Hiring Incentive Programme employee verification form dated April 22, 2021, to SOCSO to claim incentives under the programme totalling RM343,660 to deceive the body as he claimed the document contained the names of the company’s new employees when in fact the document listed names of people who were not employees of the company.

Mohamed Hazzri, who is facing two charges, allegedly submitted the same form dated June 3 and June 29, 2021, to SOCSO’s employment services officers to claim incentives under the same programme amounting to RM40,900 with similar intentions.

Mohamed Hazzri and the owner of Ilham Diya Enterprise, Nor Rizan Zakaria, 59, pleaded not guilty before Judge Suzana Hussin, to one charge of providing verification forms containing false information dated March 6 and May 29, 2021, to SOCSO to claim incentives amounting to RM110,800.

Meanwhile, the manager of Bmine Enterprise, Muhammad Asyraf Omar, 31, pleaded not guilty before Judge Azura Alwi of the same offence using verification forms dated July 31 to claim RM9,100 from SOCSO.

Md Zaidi and Muhammad Asyraf allegedly committed the offence at SOCSO’s Employment Services Division in Putrajaya while Mohamed Hazzri and Nor Rizan at SOCSO Office in Jalan Ampang here, between March 6 and Sept 13, 2021.

The charges were framed under Section 18 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009, punishable under Section 24 of the same act which carries a maximum imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the false information or RM10,000 whichever is higher, upon conviction.

Md Zaidi and Mohamed Hazzri were allowed RM25,000 and RM10,000 bail each with one surety while Suzana’s court granted RM16,000 bail to Mohamed Hazzri and Nor Rizan respectively with one surety.

Both courts also ordered all the accused to surrender their passports and report to the MACC office once a month pending the disposal of the case.

Rozina’s court set Feb 15 for case mention, while Suzana fixed Feb 7.

Meanwhile, Azura set RM5,000 bail for Muhammad Asyraf with one surety with the same additional conditions regarding his passport as well as reporting to MACC, and fixed Feb 22 for mention.

The prosecution was conducted by MACC Deputy Public Prosecutors Mohamad Fadhly Mohd Zamry, A. Kalaivani and Atiqah Alias.

Md Zaidi was represented by lawyer Azalea Nazihah Zulkefli and Nor Rizan by lawyer Hasmah Nordin while Mohamed Hazzri and Muhammad Asyraf were unrepresented. - BERNAMA