Petrol station worker jailed eight months, four strokes for misusing customers' MyKad

A petrol station worker has been sentenced to eight months' jail and four strokes of the cane for misusing customers' MyKad numbers to obtain diesel subsidies under the BUDI Diesel programme.

Lahad Datu police chief Dzulbaharin Ismail said the man was arrested last Friday together with two colleagues, one of them a woman. Both colleagues have been listed as prosecution witnesses.

He said the case came to light after police received a complaint from a victim who found that his BUDI Diesel subsidy quota had been used four times, involving 43.01 litres, without his knowledge.

"Following that, police carried out an investigation and found that the suspect's modus operandi was that when customers came to fill up using their MyKad for the subsidy, the suspect would note down the customer's MyKad number," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Dzulbaharin said the suspect then used a supervisor's password to key in the MyKad number without the physical card into the BUDI Diesel system machine, before the subsidy was used for fuel purchases by customers who were not eligible for it.

"The suspect would key in another person's MyKad number at the subsidised price and make an unlawful profit," he said.

He advised the public to be careful when handing over their MyKad for fuel purchases, and to lodge a police report immediately if they had information about the misuse of BUDI Madani subsidies.

The BUDI Diesel programme is a targeted subsidy mechanism that relies on MyKad verification at petrol stations to ensure only eligible recipients enjoy subsidised diesel prices. Keying in a MyKad number without the physical card, as described in this case, allows another individual's quota to be drained without their knowledge.

Police did not say whether further action is being taken against the buyers who received the subsidised fuel.