Businessman fined RM20,000 for misusing royal title, emblem

PETALING JAYA: A businessman was fined RM20,000, in lieu three months imprisonment, after the Sessions Court here found him guilty today on four counts of misusing the Kelantanese royal title and the Kerabat Diraja Long Yunus emblem five years ago.

Judge Norshila Kamaruddin meted out the sentence on Tengku Iskandar Tengku Ahmad, 73, after finding that the defence had failed to cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case.

For the two offences of using the title, the court sentenced him to a fine of RM1,000 or six months in jail for each count. For each of the two counts of misusing the emblem, he was fined RM9,000 or one year’s imprisonment.

According to the first two charges, Tengku Iskandar was accused of using the title “Yang Maha Mulia” without the consent of the Sultan of Kelantan on a letter of authority dated Aug 31, 2014, which he signed as “Yang Maha Mulia Tengku Iskandar Tengku Ahmad Panglima Raja” and using the same title as a signatory on a purported royal letter of authority.

The letter was used to confer an honorific title on a businessman, Kok Wai Peng, 55, without the written consent of the Sultan of Kelantan.

The charges under Section 3(1)(a) of the Kelantan Emblems and Names (Preven­tion of Improper Use) Enactment 1977 are punishable by a fine of up to RM1,000.

As for the third charge, Tengku Iskandar is accused of representing the Kerabat Diraja Long Yunus to sign a letter of authority that bore the Kerabat Diraja Long Yunus emblem as its letterhead, with the intention of authorising one Chai Kok Leong, 51, to manage a Mercedes-Benz with the registration WA45J, which also bore the same emblem.

The fourth charge, meanwhile, read that Tengku Iskandar had acted on behalf of the Kerabat Diraja Long Yunus to sign on a royal letter of authority to confer the “Seri Panglima Perkasa” that carried the title “Dato’ Seri Diraja” to Kok.

This particular letter of authority bore the emblem of the royal household, even though the Long Yunus Association had been de-registered by the Registrar of Societies in Kelantan on Feb 11, 2011.

For both offences of using the emblem, Tengku Iskandar was charged under Section 48(1) of the Societies Act 1966, which is punishable by up to five years’ jail and a maximum RM15,000 fine, or both.

Tengku Iskandar was accused of committing all of the offences at the DU Tyre Sdn Bhd in Damansara Utama, here on Aug 31, 2014 at 3pm and at Istana Dusun Green in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, between 5pm and 11pm on Aug 7, 2013.

Deputy public prosecutors Zaki Asyraf Zubir, Ahmad Sazilee Abd Khairi and Mohd Zain Ibrahim earlier asked the court to punish the accused with the maximum sentence on the grounds that he had committed offences against the royal household.

However, counsel Joshua Sambanthan mitigated for a light sentence on the grounds that his client had no fixed income. - FMT