Penal Code Section 177

177. Whoever, being legally bound to furnish information on any subject to any public servant, as such, furnishes, as true, information on the subject which he knows or has reason to believe to be false, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to two thousand ringgit or with both; or, if the information which he is legally bound to furnish respects the commission of an offence, or is required for the purpose of preventing the commission of an offence or in order to the apprehension of an offender, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both.

ILLUSTRATIONS

(a) A, a landholder, knowing of the commission of a murder, within the limits of his estate, wilfully misinforms the police of the district that the death has occurred by accident in consequence of the bite of a snake. A is guilty of the offence defined in this section.

(b) A, a police officer, or Penghulu, knowing that a considerable body of strangers has passed through his village in order to commit a gang-robbery in the house of Z, a wealthy merchant residing in a neighbouring place, and being bound to give information of the above to his superior officer, wilfully misinforms the officer that a body of suspicious characters passed through the village with a view to commit a gang-robbery in a certain distant place in a different direction. Here A is guilty of the offence defined in this section.

Explanation—In section 176 and in this section the word “offence” includes any act committed at any place out of Malaysia, which if committed in Malaysia would be punishable under any of the following sections, namely, 302, 304, 382, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 399, 402, 435, 436, 449, 450, 457, 458, 459 and 460, and the word “offender” includes any person who is alleged to have been guilty of any such act.