Criminal Procedure Code · Updated to 1 May 2023 · Chapter XXVII · Sentences and the Carrying Out of IT
283. Provisions as to sentences of fine
Feedback & supportWhere any fine is imposed under the authority of any law for the time being in force, then, in the absence of any express provision relating to the fine in such law contained, the following provisions shall apply—
fine
“fine” includes any fine, pecuniary penalty or forfeiture or compensation adjudged upon any conviction of any crime or offence or for the breach of any law for the time being in force by any Court in Malaysia;
where no sum is expressed to which the fine may extend the amount to which the offender is liable is unlimited, but shall not be excessive;
Criminal Procedure Code 157
in every case of an offence in which the offender is sentenced to pay a fine the Court passing the sentence may, in its discretion, do all or any of the following things:
allow time for the payment of the fine;
direct payment of the fine to be made by instalments;
issue a warrant for the levy of the amount by distress and sale of any property belonging to the offender;
direct that in default of payment of the fine the offender shall suffer imprisonment for a certain term, which imprisonment shall be in excess of any other imprisonment to which he may be sentenced or to which he may be liable under a commutation of sentence:
Provided that where time is not allowed for the payment of a fine an order for imprisonment in default of payment shall not be issued in the first instance unless it appears to the Court that the person has no property or insufficient property to satisfy the fine payable or that the levy of distress will be more injurious to him or his family than imprisonment;
direct that the person to be searched and that any money found on him when so searched or which, in the event of his being committed to prison, may be found on him when taken to prison, shall be applied towards the payment of such fine, the surplus, if any, being returned to him:
Provided that the money shall not be so applied if the Court is satisfied that the money does not belong to the person on whom it was found or that the loss of the money will be more injurious to him than his imprisonment;
158
the period for which the Court directs the offender to be imprisoned in default of payment of fine shall not exceed the following scale:
if the offence is punishable with imprisonment:
Where the maximum term of imprisonment—
The period shall not exceed—
does not exceed six months the maximum term of imprisonment exceeds six months but does not exceed one year six months exceeds one year but does not exceed two years one year exceeds two years half of the maximum term of imprisonment;
if the offence is not punishable with imprisonment:
Where the fine—
The period shall not exceed—
does not exceed five hundred ringgit one month exceeding five hundred ringgit but does not exceed one thousand ringgit six months exceeding one thousand ringgit but does not one year
Criminal Procedure Code 159
Where the fine—
The period shall not exceed—
exceed five thousand ringgit exceeds five thousand ringgit three years;
(Omitted);
the imprisonment which is imposed in default of payment of a fine shall terminate whenever that fine is either paid or levied by process of law;
if, before the expiration of the time of imprisonment fixed in default of payment, such a proportion of the fine is paid or levied that the time of imprisonment suffered in default of payment is not less than proportional to the part of the fine still unpaid, the imprisonment shall terminate;
the fine, or any part thereof which remains unpaid, may be levied at any time within six years after the passing of the sentence, and if under the sentence the offender is liable to imprisonment for a longer period than six years then at any time previous to the expiration of that period, and the death of the offender does not discharge from the liability any property which would after his death be legally liable for his debts.
A warrant for the levy of a fine may be executed at any place in Malaysia, but if it is required to be executed outside the State in which it is issued it shall be endorsed for that purpose by a Judge or by a First Class Magistrate having jurisdiction in the State in which it is to be executed.