KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) has denied playing a part in raising funds to pay a court fine for the release of a bogus dentist on Oct 5, just six days into her 6-month prison sentence.
However, its chief activist, Datuk Nadzim Johan, said the group saw no wrong in other non-governmental organisations that helped raise the RM70,000 fine for the 20-year-old vocational college graduate Nur Farahanis Ezatty Adli.
Nadzim said PPIM only acted as an advisor to Nur Farahanis’ family and lawyer after she was sentenced to six months jail on Sept 29 for failing to pay the fine.
“Our question is, why is the public so mad at us? What did we do that they are condemning us? The thing is, you must understand the issue. Even professionals are hitting out on us.
“PPIM did not fork out even a single sen. We only advised her family and lawyer when they met us,” he said at a press conference today, adding that the funds were raised by a bikers club, which has ties with Nur Farahanis’ family, with the help of the Malaysia Islamic Economic Activist Organisation (PPEIM).
The PPIM drew flak from netizens and professional bodies for its purported role in raising money to pay the fine.
The sessions court in Malacca had fined Nur Farahanis RM70,000, in default six months’ jail, for running an unregistered private dental clinic in contravention of Section 27 of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998.
Nadzim said while he acknowledged that Nur Farahanis’ actions were wrong, the public should not act as a judge and condemn others who had helped raise the funds to settle the fine.
Meanwhile, Bar Council president George Varughese said it was the prerogative of the public prosecutor (PP) whether or not to appeal or enhance Nor Farahanis’ sentence within 14 days from the sentence date, if it decided that it was inadequate.
“The PP will take into account the nature and gravity of the offence and the mitigating factors in deciding whether or not it is in the public interest to appeal against a light sentence.
“(However) I am not in a position to say that the PP should appeal against the sentence,” he told theSun.