Bandar Seri Begawan - The Magistrate Court slapped a $5.000 fine on a 50-year-old man yesterday after he was found guilty of running an illegal lottery.

Swee Tech Kwang was convicted of assisting his sisterin-law, Lim Hon Khiong. run a four-digit lottery at Kg Bukit tidal, Tutong in June 2009.Lim recently plead guilty to a similar charge. During his trial. the defendant denied he was an agent for the lottery but lie never disputed having four-digit numbers on his mobile phone.

However,in his statement to the police. Swec voluntarily admitted he was an agent for the lottery operation.using his mobile phone to receive numbers front friends.In court, he later refuted this statement claiming that he was "confused" at the time it was taken despite conceding that police did not pressure or use force on him. He also denied that cash found on his person at the time of his arrest was for gambling-related activities.

Senior Magistrate Pg Masni Pg Hj Bahar said she was satisfied that the prosecution had proven its case and gave the defendant until March 8 to pay his fine.The court ordered the mobile phone and cash to be forfeited to the state.After the judgement was handed down, the prosecution announced they would like to appeal the sentence at a later date. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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