Court affirms Umno man, 2 others defrauded pilgrims of RM500,000

2026-02-27 - 01:13

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has affirmed a judgment entered against Kangar Umno chief Fathul Bari Mat Jaya and two others for RM492,480, ruling that the trio had defrauded the clients of KRS Travel Sdn Bhd. KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed an appeal by three directors and shareholders of a defunct travel company, including an Umno division leader, ruling that they had committed fraud by refusing to return about RM500,000 collected from Muslim pilgrims. Justice Leong Wai Hong noted that the trial judge in the sessions court had made findings of fact after hearing all witnesses. “An appellate court should not interfere with the findings without good reason,” he said in dismissing the appeal of the trio from Rehla Travel Services Sdn Bhd. The appellants — Kangar Umno chief Fathul Bari Mat Jaya, Sekh Fazzli Sekh Ruzi and Wan Azizul Wan Yusoff — have filed a further appeal to the Court of Appeal. Leong described the case as a sad instance of greed prevailing over the spiritual needs of KRS Travel Sdn Bhd’s clients, who had paid for their pilgrimage to Mecca. He said the three appellants had admitted to using money for personal purposes instead of refunding it, and had made false representations to KRS. The judge also noted that the trio later applied to have Rehla struck off from the register of companies kept by the Companies Commission of Malaysia, adding that the application, made under Section 550 of the Companies Act 2016, was to prevent KRS from pursuing legal action against Rehla. The trio was adjudged by the sessions court to have committed fraud, with judgment entered for RM492,480 in KRS’s favour. According to the facts of the case, Rehla operated as a travel and tour agency company that provided reservation services and related activities. It was also a ticketing agent for Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) since 2019. In February 2020, KRS sought Rehla’s services to source for and purchase flight tickets to Medina and Jeddah for its clients to perform their pilgrimage to Mecca. KRS paid RM492,480 to Rehla for this purpose. As the MAB ticket agent, Rehla then paid the airline to purchase the flight tickets. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tickets bought by KRS were cancelled by MAB. Rehla also ceased operating during that period. The airline then paid a settlement sum of about RM1.3 million to Rehla, which included the RM492,480 paid by KRS. KRS contended that RM492,480 from the sum paid to Rehla should have been refunded to its customers, the pilgrims. However, the three Rehla directors took the position that the company was merely a ticket agent for MAB and that KRS should make their claim directly with the airline.