Former JKM Staff Sentenced to 468 Years in Jail for 36 Counts of Laundering RM16 Million

A former financial administrative assistant from the Sarawak Social and Welfare Department (JKM) was sentenced to a whopping 468 years in prison following a guilty verdict of 36 charges of money laundering and three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving over RM16 million.

Image Credit: The Borneo Post

The defendant, Mohd Zairull Arzuan Mohd Shamsuddin Ja'afar @ Ang Chui Tiong, 38, pleaded guilty to the charges on Wednesday, April 9.

For each of the 36 money laundering charges, Mohd Zairull was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM5 million, with one month's jail in default.

Meanwhile, for each of the three CBT charges, he was sentenced to 12 years of jail time and one stroke of the cane.

Sessions Court Judge Musli Ab Hamid had ordered the prison sentences to be served concurrently, as reported by NST.

Image Credit: Prison Fellowship

Following the order, Mohd Zairull will serve at least 12 years in jail and receive three strokes of the cane. He will be serving an additional three years in prison should he fail to pay the RM180 million fine.

It is understood that Mohd Zairull committed the money laundering offences between 2020 and 2022, involving a total of RM6,013,504.30. Additionally, his CBT offences, which occurred between 2019 and 2021, amounted to RM10,272,350.13.

His crimes were exposed when his salary statement showed suspicious transactions, with more than RM4 million credited to his personal account.

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