Immigration officer, businesswoman cleared of falsifying Malaysian passports

KUCHING: The High Court here has discharged and acquitted an immigration officer and a businesswoman accused of falsifying Malaysian international passports seven years ago.

Judge Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli made the ruling after determining that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against Mohamad Roslan Marjo, 52, and Tan Chew Yeang, 48.

The prosecution also failed to prove the element of common intention between the two, as they did not know each other.

In addition, there was also no evidence of a pre-arranged plan between Roslan and Tan to obtain the passports.

Roslan, who faced 12 charges, was accused of falsifying Malaysian international passports at the Immigration office in UTC Sarawak between Aug 22 and Nov 19, 2017.

Tan, meanwhile, was charged with two counts of falsifying passports at the same location on Oct 2, 2017.

Both were charged under Section 26E of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (Act 670), which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, a fine of up to RM500,000, or both.

A total of 14 witnesses were called to testify for the prosecution.

The cases were prosecuted by deputy public prosecutors Kong Siew Chuo and Nur Suriati Mohd.

Roslan was represented by counsel Shankar Ram Asnani, and Tan was represented by lawyers Roger Chin and Lim Heng Choo