IPOH: A mini market director was fined five thousand ringgit by the Sessions Court here today after pleading guilty to selling bottled cooking oil above the government-set price last year.
Judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamad sentenced forty-three year old J Shanker and ordered him to serve five days in jail if he fails to pay the fine.
The court also ordered that four hundred and eighty-five ringgit and eighty-five sen, the proceeds from the related sales, be forfeited and handed over to the Malaysian government.
According to the charge, Shanker as director of Mini Market Desa Rishah Sdn Bhd was found selling or offering for sale a controlled-price item.
The item in question was specifically two-kilogramme bottles of Seri Murni cooking oil at a price other than that determined under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011.
The offence was committed at Mini Market Desa Rishah Sdn Bhd in Taman Klebang Ria, Chemor, at twelve thirty pm on April 17, 2024.
The charge was filed under Section 11 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 and is punishable under Section 18(b) of the same act.
If convicted, the offence carries a maximum fine of one hundred thousand ringgit or a jail term not exceeding three years, or both.
For a second or subsequent offence, the penalty is a maximum fine of two hundred and fifty thousand ringgit or a jail term not exceeding five years, or both.
The prosecuting officer for the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, N Shamani, requested an appropriate sentence.
The accused’s lawyer Ahmad Shamil Azad Abdul Halim requested a fine of five thousand ringgit on the grounds that there was a pricing error on that day.
He stated the oil was priced at thirteen ringgit and ninety sen and only one bottle of oil was sold.
Meanwhile, forty-six bottles of oil were seized from the stock. – Bernama
