The Magistrate's Court acquitted a Labour Department clerk of a charge of using a forged document as she was not found to have knowledge that the document was a fake.

Hajah Latifah binti Haji Gharif, 49, walked free from court last Thursday.

She was accused of committing the offence on January 3, 2011 when she allegedly used a forged tender document for 'Skim Saliran Kampong Jangsak - Fasa 2' in order to increase the number of foreign labour quotas for a firm, Kontraktor Pasang Raya Jaya (KPRJ).

Hajah Latifah, represented by lawyer Yusof Halim, maintained her innocence to the charge all along the trial.

During trial, evidence showed that the actual tender was awarded to Normila Sdn Bhd for a sum in excess of B$2 million.

KPRJ was initially registered in Hajah Latifah's name but had been sold to Betty Chong Moon Yoon in 2010.

Hajah Latifah remains the registered owner pending the substitution of her name with Betty, who gave evidence for the prosecution at the trial, confirming this and told the court that she was given a copy of the tender award purportedly to KPRJ by a person named Atiqur Rahman, an engineer with KPRJ.

Betty did not suspect the copy to be forged and forwarded this to Hajah Latifah to apply for an increase in the labour quotas of the firm.

Senior Magistrate Azrimah binti Abdul Rahman who presided over the trial noted that the defence conceded that the copy of the tender award was a forged document and that it had been used by Hajah Latifah in the application for an increase in labour quotas.

The court then went through the evidence given at trial to determine whether Hajah Latifah knew or had reason to believe the document was forged when she used it.

The court noted that there was no direct evidence of this, but looked at all other evidence in determining this issue.

DPP Farhanah binti Pehin Dato Suhaili argued that Hajah Latifah should have asked for the original tender document and should have thoroughly investigated the document before submitting it.

The court declined to accept this argument noting that it was not the practice of the Labour Department to ask for the original tender award documents and that Hajah Latifah was not the owner of KPRJ at the time the tender award was submitted.

The court found that the prosecution's witness, Betty Chong, had clearly given evidence that Hajah Latifah would not make any financial gain from the tender award or the increase in labour quotas.

The prosecution also called a Labour Officer Haji Noorasmawi bin Haji Daud to the witness stand.

He gave evidence that he was the officer who was to conduct inspection of the site and put up the recommendation whether the application for any increase in labour quotas should be approved.

He gave evidence that Hajah Latifah had instructed him not to conduct the site inspection.

The court found this evidence 'preposterous', noting that Hajah Latifah was a clerk subordinate to Haji Noorasmawi and could not issue any instruction to him.

The court accepted Hajah Latifah's evidence that she was just trying to be helpful in telling Haji Noorasmawi that there was nothing at the site.

An adverse inference was also made by the court because the prosecution had failed to call Atiqur Rahman as their witness.

Atiqur Rahman was the first person to have possession of the forged document and could have clarified to the court on how he came to be in possession of the document, the court observed.

The court ruled that the evidence given by Hajah Latifah is consistent with her not having knowledge that the copy of tender award she used was a forged document.

The court accepted Hajah Latifah's explanation and acquitted her of the charge based on the prosecution's failure to prove the court beyond its reasonable doubt.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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