Judge MM Edwin Paramjothy handed down the sentence to Shamsubahrin, 56, after he upheld his guilty plea during the sentencing hearing today.

The court ordered the accused to be jailed six months if he failed to pay the fine. The accused paid the fine.

A 51-second video recording was also replayed in court today and the accused admitted that he made the statement.

Shamsubahrin, who is the founder of Big Blue Taxi Premium Services, is said to have knowingly made the statement with intent to cause fear among the people on April 30, 2020.

The link to his remarks was read at the cyber and multimedia crime investigation division office of the commercial crime investigation department (CCID) at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, here, at 12.30pm on May 4, 2020.

Shamsubahrin was charged under Section 505 of the Penal Code, which provides for imprisonment of up to two years or a fine, or both.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Najihah Farhana Che Awang sought an appropriate sentence while the accused, who was not represented, appealed for a minimum fine on the grounds that he had cancer and had previously been infected with the Covid-19 virus.

According to the facts of the case, the complainant (a policeman) was surfing the internet at the Bukit Aman CCID office when he saw the video that had been uploaded by a Facebook user.