KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — An elderly man was fined RM5,000 by the Magistrate's Court today for making false statements regarding the birth registration of his two children and submitting false information when applying for an identity card with the National Registration Department (NRD).
Magistrate Amira Abd Aziz imposed the sentence on the 62-year-old unemployed man after he pleaded guilty to all three charges and ordered him to serve 17 months in prison if he failed to pay the fine.
The accused was charged with two counts of making false statements during the application for the birth registration of his two children using the NRD birth registration form at the NRD Federal Territory counters in Kuala Lumpur and Kepong at 2.13pm on April 10, 2009, and 3.43pm on August 4, 2010.
He was charged under Section 36 (a) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1957, which provides for a maximum fine of RM2,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 12 months or both.
The accused also faces another charge of submitting false information when applying for the first-time identity card of one of his two children aged 12 using the identity card application form at the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory NRD counter at 8.57am on March 29, 2021.
The charge was brought under Article 25(1)(b) of the National Registration Regulations, the National Registration Act 1959, which carries a maximum fine of RM20,000 or imprisonment of not more than three years or both.
Based on the facts of the case, the complainant (NRD) arrested the man on suspicion of making a false statement when applying for the birth registration of his two children.
The investigation found that the two children were not the biological children of the accused's wife based on the DNA test conducted.
Earlier, NRD prosecuting officer Nurraudhah Adilah Bahadun requested a commensurating sentence against the man.
Lawyer Ku Mohd Fauzul Azim Ku Zaharul' Aiz, who represented the accused, requested a fine on the grounds that his client has health problems and is supporting his family.
"My client is unemployed and has a wife and three children aged 12 to 15, and he also has to take care of his 87-year-old mother who is paralysed," he said.
— Bernama
