KUALA LUMPUR: A man who posed as a Kuala Lumpur City Hall officer and conned people into renting non-existent low-cost houses has been sen­ten­c­ed to four years jail and ordered to be given 30 strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court here.

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

He is accused of committing the offences between Feb 24 and April 15 of last year at various locations throughout Kuala Lumpur.

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

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

When the victims checked with the City Hall, it confirmed that it had never employed Komagan.

The victims then filed a police report which lead to Komagan’s arrest.

DPP 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 that there is no short cut to getting one,” said Amira Sariaty, adding that Komagan needed to be punished for preying on people.

Komagan, who was unrepresented, pleaded for leniency because he is renting a house for his family too.

He said as the sole bread­winner for the family, they wouldn’t be able to afford continue renting the house if he was jailed.

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

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

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