SEREMBAN: A 56-year-old Rela supervisor has been sentenced to 14 days' jail and fined RM10,000 by the Sessions Court here after pleading guilty to a charge of submitting false claims.

       S.Vijaiyan pleaded guilty after the charge was read to him before judge Rushan Lutfi Mohamed.

       The court also ordered the accused to serve five months in jail if he was not able to pay the fine.

       Vijaiyan was charged with submitting a false claim amounting to RM960 under the name of P. Vikneswary at the Rela office here in Dec 2021.

       He submitted the claim although he knew that Vikneswary had not turned up for duty at the Higher Education Leadership Academy in November 2021.

       Vijaiyan was charged under Section 18 of the MACC Act, which is punishable under Section 24(2) of the same legislation.

       Offenders can be jailed up to 20 years and fined five times the amount involved in the case or a minimum of RM10,000 upon conviction.

       The court, after taking into account his guilty plea, acquitted and discharged the accused of six other charges as provided under Section 171A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

       R. Subash, who appeared for the accused, asked the court to impose a minimum sentence as he had to provide for his wife and 12 children.

       He said the accused had also saved the court's time by pleading guilty to the charge.

       "The accused had an excellent record serving Rela for 16 years.

       "Since this is his first offence, we like to appeal to the court to impose a minimum jail sentence," he said.

       Mohamad Azriff Firdaus Mohamad Ali prosecuted.