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Published: Friday May 10, 2013 MYT 2:30:00 PM
Updated: Friday May 10, 2013 MYT 6:19:21 PM

30 strokes, 4 years' jail for conman who posed as DBKL officer in low-cost housing scam

By QISHIN TARIQ


KUALA LUMPUR: A man who pretended to be a Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) officer and conned people into renting non-existent low-cost houses was sentenced to 30 strokes of the rotan and four years' jail by the Sessions Court here Friday.

Judge Mat Ghani Abdullah convicted carpenter C. Komagan, 35, after he pleaded guilty to all 10 counts of cheating families into paying him between RM450 to RM9,550, totalling RM28,392.

He was accused of committing the offences between Feb 24 last year to April 15 this year, at various locations through out Kuala Lumpur.

According to the facts of the case, Komagan had told the victims that he was a DBKL officer, and could give them offer letters to rent low-cost houses for a small fee.

However, when they called him to pick up their keys to the house, he refused to answer, causing them to suspect something was amiss.

When the victims checked with DBKL, they were told the city counsel had never employed Komagan. The victims then filed a police report, which led to Komagan's arrest.

Deputy public prosecutor Amira Sariaty Zainal urged the court to hand down an appropriate sentence, saying it would be a warning to the public not to fall for such schemes.

"Everyone wants a home to call their own, but they need to know there isn't a short cut to getting one," said Amira Sariaty, adding that Komagan needed to be punished for preying on these people.

Komagan, who was unrepresented, pleaded for leniency, saying he was renting his family's house, too. He said as sole breadwinner for the family, they wouldn't be able to afford the house if he was jailed.

Judge Mat Ghani said that sentence would take into account Komagan's plea and that he had saved the court's time by pleading guilty.

The court sentenced Komagan to three strokes of the cane and four years prison, to run concurrently, for each of the 10 charges.

"Because this is a white collar crime, you will be caned using the rotan one would use for a school caning, not the same one used on violent criminals," Judge Mat Ghani told Komagan.

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