Woman returns from Vietnamese prison for credit card fraud

[MarrickG]

SEPANG, Selangor - Normazawati Wong Abdullah arrived at the airport here, went down to her knees, kissed the ground and cried.

After seven years in a Vietnam prison, she was finally free and back at home.

The 49-year-old single mother of five, a former human resources manager, was detained in Vietnam for credit card fraud in April 2004 and two months later, was sentenced to 10 years in jail.


She was there to look for business opportunities when her "friends", who received her, gave her a credit card and passport which belonged to another person.

"They asked me to use it to shop for luxury goods such as video cameras, cameras and watches," she said at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal here yesterday.

"They threatened to harm my children if I refused, so I did whatever they told me to do."

Later, Normazawati was caught and jailed.

"And my Vietnamese friends abandoned me," she added.

In February this year, she was granted an early release from the Ham Tan K4 prison for good behaviour.

But she was asked to pay a RM62,000 (S$25,300) fine, which was part of her sentence, before she could return to Malaysia.

Normazawati's daughter Siti Ansyakinah Zainal Abidin, 24, then sought the help of the Putera 1Malaysia Club.

She and Wanita Umno exco member Datuk Nor Hayati Onn then flew to Ho Chi Minh City to pay the fine.

Siti Ansyakinah said her siblings could not receive their mother as they were staying in other parts of the country and in Indonesia.

Asked what her plans would be next, Normazawati said she only wanted to spend time with her family.

"I have lost seven years of my life," she added.

Normazawati said she might work with Wanita Umno and give talks, warning women about syndicates that duped them into illegal activities such as being a drug mule.

Club president Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim said it would continue working with Wanita Umno in helping women in distress around the world.

"So far, we have brought back three victims," he said. "There are more than 30 others facing similar predicaments."