Two former PWBSM office bearers fined for submitting false documents to Mitra
18 Jul 2023 04:12pm
Photo for illustrative purposes.
Judge Azura Alwi meted out the fine, in default five months’ jail, on former chairperson J. Lalitha Mani, 48, and former treasurer B. Shivaranjani, 42, after they pleaded guilty to the charge.
They were jointly charged with using two forged documents, namely the ”Volunteer Services For Program Pemerkasaan Wanita India” dated Oct 11, 2020, issued by PWBSM to Priscilla Rachael, 27, and G .Govindan, 44, for MITRA funds.
The offence was committed at MITRA, Ministry of National Unity in Putrajaya on Oct 26, 2020, according to Section 471 of the Penal Code, which provides imprisonment for not more than two years, or fine, or both, if found guilty.
According to the facts of the case, on July 28, 2020, Lalitha Mani, who was then PWBSM secretary and chairman of PWBSM and then treasurer Shivaranjani, on behalf of the association, signed an agreement to obtain grants amounting to RM12.1 million from MITRA under the Entrepreneurship and Career Development Programme for the Indian Community.
MITRA has paid the entire amount of the grant in stages between Aug 12, 2020 and Jan 19, 2021 and in return, PWBSM needed to provide reports to MITRA on the program.
On Oct 26, 2020, Shivaranjani sent a report on the Implementation of the Women's Empowerment Programme by PWBSM,. dated Oct 20, 2020, which contained two forged payment vouchers to MITRA.
Following an investigation, it was found that the recipients of the payment voucher, namely Priscilla and Govindan, never received any payment or signed the voucher.
Deputy public prosecutor from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Noor Syafina Mohd Radzuan prosecuted, while lawyer Devanandan S. Subramaniam represented the two accused. - BERNAMA
