{
  "id": 11132577,
  "title": "Car salesman acquitted after prosecution withdraws false robbery charge",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/car-salesman-acquitted-after-prosecution-withdraws-false-robbery",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-01T07:01:30.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/news/regional/2026/10/1545401/car-salesman-acquitted-after-prosecution-withdraws-false-robbery"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A 43-year-old car salesman, Le Chong Seng, was acquitted by a magistrate's court in Butterworth today after prosecutors withdrew their charge of deception. Magistrate Aini Adilah Muhammad Faizal made the ruling following the prosecution's notification that they had withdrawn the charge against Le. Defence lawyer C. Hari Prassaad Rao stated that the defence had submitted a representation outlining their case, which led to the prosecutors withdrawing the charge. Le was initially accused of deceiving customer Teh Hock Kheng by claiming he had been robbed, despite knowing that no robbery had taken place. The alleged incident occurred in front of a vehicle sales centre on Jalan Kampung Gajah on September 17th last year, under Section 417 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail, a fine, or both. Two men were arrested in relation to a separate robbery incident, but they were later released without payment.",
  "summary": "BUTTERWORTH: A 43-year-old car salesman charged with deceiving a customer by claiming he had been robbed was discharged and acquitted by the magistrate's court here today.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}