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12 to 16 to 32 years
RAPIST GETS IT
WORSE AFTER
EACH APPEAL
UTRAJAYA: A chicken rice
P
seller convicted of raping his
maid with the help of his wife
four years ago has got it worse
each time he appealed – yesterday
the Appeals Court doubled his
sentence to 32 years and 18 strokes
of the rotan.
Three years ago, a lower court
had sentenced Seow Eng Aik
(above) to 12 years jail and three
strokes of the rotan on each of
Chew non-committal on punishing Pempena culprits
by R. Nadeswaran
and Terence Fernandez
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Pempena Sdn Bhd
executive chairman Datin Paduka
Chew Mei Fun (pix) said that action will
be taken for the millions in losses in the
Tourism Ministry subsidiary but was
non-committal when asked if those
responsible will be held accountable.
She also refused to give a direct
answer when asked if the law will catch
up with the perpetrators of fraud which
cost the company RM50 million in bad
investments and suspect decisions.
“I don’t have to answer you now as
to the status of our investigations, but
I assure you we are taking action to
rectify whatever had happened before
(our time),” she told a press conference
at the company’s office in Menara Dato
Onn yesterday.
She said her team, which was
MEMBER AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS (MALAYSIA)
three counts of rape, the jail
terms to run concurrently. His
wife, Tan Seok Hoon, was jailed
six years for abetment.
Their appeal to the High
Court was not only dismissed,
but the judge also added four
years to Seow’s jail term.
The apex court is now the
couple’s last resort.
“Any potential employer
who wishes to act the way you
have acted will meet the same
fate,” said Justice Datuk Suriyadi
Halim Omar, who sat with Appeal
Court judges Datuk Wan Adnan
Muhamad and Datuk Ahmad
Maarop, yesterday.
The judges unanimously
dismissed the couple’s appeal and
doubled Seow’s punishment from
16 years jail and nine strokes to 32
years and 18 strokes.
During the trial, which was
given wide coverage by the media,
it was revealed that Seow’s wife
abetted him by holding the maid’s
hands while he raped her. She also
stuffed chilli and carrot into the
maid’s private part.
“The reason (for the
enhancement) is that this is a
sadistic rape on somebody who
should be protected. Instead, with
the assistance of your wife, you
raped her to satisfy your lust.
“The poor girl came all the way
from Indonesia to earn an income
but instead she met with terror and
sexual abuse,” Suriyadi said.
Seow, 41, was convicted of three
counts of raping the 19-year-old
maid from Blora, Semarang, at his
poring over the report
from PriceWater-
houseCoopers (PWC),
which among others
revealed that as of
June, Pempena had in-
vested RM54.4 million
in 24 companies, with
only four profitable.
“We are also look-
ing at the internal
audit and will do the
needful,” she said,
adding that this in-
cluded lodging police
reports. The internal audit report out-
lines how certain company officials had
altered the minutes of board meetings;
advanced monies without contracts
and dodgy investments.
On a report lodged by member of
parliament Lim Kit Siang at the Dang
Wangi police station yesterday, Chew
said Pempena was open to cooperat-
30 sen for delivery to your doorstep
TELLING IT AS IT IS
house in Tingkat Paya Terubong
3, Paya Terubong, Penang, in
February, July and August 2004.
Tan, 36, was found guilty of
abetting her husband in the July
incident. They were sentenced on
June 23, 2005.
The High Court, on March
31, 2006, dismissed their appeals
against conviction and sentence
and enhanced Seow’s sentence to
16 years’ jail. Seow was arrested
on Oct 18, 2004 after his maid,
ing with the police.
Questioned on some
of these investments and
decisions not to recoup
losses, she retorted: “We
won’t answer for what
happened before us.”
She also took Lim to
task – the whole purpose
of the press conference
– for remarks the Ipoh
Timur MP made against
her on Tuesday. “The
Minister of Tourism was
appointed in March 2008
and the new management of Pempena
was put in place in May. The minister
and Pempena have been transparent
by making available the PWC business
review report to Lim. It is disappointing
that these efforts have been under-
mined and attacked by Lim,” she read
out from a statement.
Addressing Lim’s allegations, she
Award winning newspaper
for public service reporting
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No. 4643 PP 2644/12/2008 (020369)
Thursday
November 20, 2008
www.sun2surf.com
who had fled the house a month
earlier, lodged a report at the Kuala
Lumpur police headquarters.
She had sought shelter at
a Muslim orphanage in Paya
Terubong for several weeks until
Penang Tenaganita representatives
took her to the Indonesian embassy
in Kuala Lumpur.
Seow and Tan were represented
by R.S.N. Rayer and K.H. Chua
while deputy public prosecutor V.
Shoba acted for the prosecution.
– Bernama
said Pempena’s staffing of 57 workers
had followed procedures. Asked how
those who had applied for research
officers in the minister’s office had
instead been appointed as directors
and general managers, Chew replied:
“It is up to the company to give them
a job that we feel fits them. Is there
anything wrong?”
She also denied that she was
given a company car, saying that she
used her own car for official functions
– this despite an internal memo which
showed that her position comes with
perks such as a car and driver.
She also said there was no conflict
between her work in Pempena and her
duties as Wanita MCA chief and that
there was no need for her to take up
the Pempena post as she had received
various offers from the private sector.
“I, however, accepted the job in
Pempena as my national duty,” she
said, adding that these duties included
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EPAPIX
Pirates aboard
Pirates holding the fishing
vessel Tian Yu 8 passing
through the Indian Ocean are
caught on camera by the US
Navy. The ship was attacked on
Sunday in the US 5th Fleet area
of responsibility and forced to
proceed to an anchorage off
the Somali coast. Three more
ships have been hijacked by
Somali pirates since the seizure
of a Saudi supertanker on
Sunday. See page 10.
attending post-cabinet meetings and
chairing management meetings,
as well as being a member of the
ministry’s International Advisory
Council.
Also present were Pempena CEO
Datuk Idrus Mohamed and human
resource manager Zul Aman Shah.
Asked on allegations addressed
in the internal audit where several
Pempena staff had not been paid their
salaries for up to four months, Chew
dismissed them as “poison pen letters”.
Idrus, while saying the allegations were
“news to me”, said he was willing to
investigate if there was proof to this.
After lodging his report, Lim said:
“The company has lost RM20 million
and there is a lot of hanky panky and
monkey business here. The minister
owes everyone an explanation.”
He said he also learnt that the
ministry wanted another RM5 million
to keep Pempena afloat.