Headmaster jailed for misappropriating school funds
SANDAKAN: A primary school headmaster pleaded guilty to three counts of power abuse at the Special Corruption Court here today.
However, before judge Abu Bakar Manat could hand down the sentence, Brahim Zakaria, 55, fell sick in court and was sent to Duchess of Kent hospital for treatment.
Following which, Abu Bakar set April 2 for sentencing and allowed Brahim bail of RM10,000, with RM6,000 in deposit by a local surety.
Brahim, who was headmaster of Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Karamunting in 2016 and 2017, was charged with misappropriating the school funds, totalling RM13,300 between Dec 23, 2016 and July 14, 2017.
He was initially charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust (CBT), but the prosecution offered an alternative charge under Section 403 of the Penal Code for dishonest misappropriation.
Meanwhile, SK Karamunting hostel supervisor, Hermansah Masari, 36, was charged with abetting Brahim in committing the offences at the same place, time and date.
However, he pleaded not guilty to the charges, made under Section 109 of the Penal Code.
Abu Bakar set April 2 for mention.
In the same court, former teacher Haidin Osman, 56, was sentenced 27 months jail on two counts of cheating.
He pleaded guilty to cheating one Suhadi Priyanto @ Suparman by deceiving the man into believing that a police officer could help close his case for having a dubious identity card, prompting Suhadi to hand over a total of RM4,978, made in two transactions, to Haidin for the purpose.
On the first count, Haidin was charged with deceiving Suhadi into handing over RM478 at Kampung Jawa 2, Batu 12, Jalan Sungai Manila near here on Feb 13, 2018, and another RM4,500 on Feb 26, 2018 at Restaurant Fathima Curry House near here.
He was sentenced to a year’s jail on the first count, and 15 months jail on the second count, to be served concurrently from today.
Bernama