AN assistant director of National Registration Department in Penang faces 11 charges for selling MyKad and birth certificates to foreigners in the state.

Mohd Faizul Ariffin was brought before separate Sessions Courts this morning to face the charges before judges Salha Hamzah and Mazdi Abdul Hamid.

No plea was recorded.

Faizul also faces 21 other charges with five other Malaysians for selling the documents to foreigners.

Faizul and the rest have been denied bail. The matter will be mentioned on September 18.

Police said yesterday they busted a syndicate which created fake identity cards and arrested 20 individuals, including an NRD officer.

Foreigners in search of citizenship would seek the help of a syndicate member from the Penang NRD who handled the creation of fake birth certificates and MyKad.

“This individual will then instruct other NRD staff, who are not aware of the illegal nature of the instructions, to key in the records of the invalid cards into the system. It is believed that the syndicate earned around RM100,000 to RM600,000, depending on the nature of the request,” said Bukit Aman CID director Huzir Mohamed in a statement yesterday.

The arrests come in the heels of a case earlier in the year of a Chinese national caught with fake documents.

Faizul is accused of issuing the documents to five China nationals.

Businessman Lai Chin Wah, 56, Chen Guan Chai, 36, Loh Chan Cheong, 34, Yap Cheng Wah, 44, and Mohd Faizal Tan Abdullah, 56 are accused of committing the same offence between January and February.

Faizul is represented by Sukhindarpal Singh. – September 12, 2019.