Convenience store fined RM60,000 for selling smoking products near school

Court file image. Photo: Freepik

By Dorcas Ting

KUCHING, Jan 21: A convenience store operator was fined RM60,000 by the Magistrates’ Court here on Monday (Jan 19) for selling smoking products within 40 metres of an educational institution and for offering unlabelled and unpackaged tobacco items in contravention of the relevant legislation.

Magistrate Mason Jaro Lenya Bayaran imposed the penalty after the company director represented in court by the store’s manager as the person summoned pleaded guilty to two separate charges.

The court ordered the company to pay RM30,000 for each count.

According to the first charge, the company sold tobacco products within a restricted distance from an educational facility, an offence under Section 10(1) of the Public Health Control of Smoking Product Act 2024, read together with Regulation 4(b) of the Public Health Control of Smoking Product (Sales Control) Regulations 2024.

The offence carries a fine of between RM20,000 and RM100,000, up to two years’ imprisonment, or both.

The second charge alleged that the company sold unpackaged and unlabelled smoking products as required under the same Act. The offence falls under Section 10(1) of the Act, read together with Section 15(1) and Regulation 8(1)(b) of the Public Health Control of Smoking Product (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations 2024, which prescribes the same penalty range.

During mitigation, the store manager unrepresented by counsel urged the court to impose a lighter penalty, saying it was the company’s first offence and assuring that similar violations would not recur.

Prosecutor Mohd Fairos Ibrahim from the Kuching Divisional Health Office submitted that both offences are non-compoundable and asked the court to impose an appropriate sentence as a deterrent to the accused company and as a reminder to other retailers to comply with the law. — DayakDaily