MH370: Court to sentence couple who stole money from passengers' account

The Sessions Court here yesterday postponed to next Wednesday (May 20) the sentencing of a married couple who stole a total of RM85,180 from the accounts belonging to four victims of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370.

The postponement was made after lawyers YS Chong and Collin Arvind Andrew informed the court that they were withdrawing themselves from representing the couple.

Nur Shila Kanan, 34, was charged with 12 counts of the alleged offences, while her husband, Basheer Ahmad Maula Sahul Hameed, 34, a mechanic, was charged with four.

During the proceeding, the lawyers told Judge Norsharidah Awang that the couple did not extend the necessary cooperation nor give them further instruction.

On Aug 20 last year, the couple pleaded not guilty to the charges. Four prosecution witnesses testified during the hearing of the case which started on April 16.

However, last April 28, Nur Shila and her husband changed their plea to guilty and were convicted by the court.

The charges against Nur Shila were for transferring money belonging to Malaysian citizens by using forged documents and cheating the bank supervisor, as well as stealing the money.

The offence was committed at her workplace at HSBC Bank in Lebuh Ampang between May 14 and July 8 last year.

Meanwhile, Basheer Ahmad Maula was charged with withdrawing the money using the debit and ATM cards of the victims at ATM HSBC Amanah Ampang Point, Ampang here, between 10.02am on May 15 and 11.28pm on June 29 last year.

Deputy Public prosecutor Ahmad Fadhli Mahmud, who prosecuted, also told the court that the couple had repeatedly changed their lawyers.

"The previous lawyers withdrew on grounds that they failed to get instruction and cooperation from the couple," he added.