Professor fined RM20,000 for submitting non-existent claims

SHAH ALAM: A professor from Universiti Teknologi Mara's Sungai Buloh campus was yesterday fined RM20,000 by the Sessions Court after pleading guilty to submitting false claims related to non-existent research work in 2021.
Judge Datuk Mohd Nasir Nordin handed down the sentence to Professor Datin Dr Hapizah Md Nawawi, 65, after she changed her plea to guilty on six alternative charges linked to the offences.
The court ordered her to serve 21 months in jail if she failed to pay the fine. She settled the fine.
On the six alternative charges, Hapizah admitted to conspiring with Amirah Mohd Ariff to falsified documents to claim RM14,000 in monthly research assistant salary.
However, Amirah had never conducted any work for the research titled " Mechanism of Drone-assisted Technology on Efficiency of Mass Disaster Victim Identification.
Hapizah committed the offence at the campus' Institute of Pathology, Laboratory and Forensic Medicine from April to October 2021.
The charges were framed under Section 109 of the Penal Code read with Section 471 and punishable under Section 465.
It carries a maximum two-year jail term or with fine or both upon conviction.
Hapizah's 12 other alternative charges were taken into consideration under Section 171A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Deputy public prosecutor Muaz Ahmad Khairuddin confirmed this when contacted by the New Straits Times.
Hapizah was represented by lawyer Shamsul Sulaiman.
On July 31 last year, Hapizah claimed trial to the 18 charges of submitting RM38,000 worth of salary claims for non-existent research work.

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