Wedding planner Zurina Ahmad Jundi who owns and operates Zurin Jundi wedding company appeared in court for the fifth time in as many months to answer more cheating charges.
Zurina, 35, was charged with 12 counts of cheating her clients by deceiving them into buying a wedding package that offered a full wedding service at very low prices.
However, those who had chosen and paid for the cheap wedding packages felt cheated when the company failed to provide the full wedding service on their wedding day as promised.
Zurina, who was escorted by police to the Johor Baru magistrate’s court, appeared calm when the 12 charges involving a sum of almost RM55,000 were read to her in two separate court proceedings.
The money was allegedly collected by her from her clients who had opted to take the cheap wedding package which was promoted to the public by her company since last year.
During the first court session before magistrate Noor Aisyah Ahmad, Zurina pleaded not guilty to seven counts of cheating her clients in Johor by collecting a sum of RM32,163 as payment for the cheap wedding package between April 18 and July 31 last year.
In the second session before magistrate Azureen Shahira Sauffee Affandi, Zurina also pleaded not guilty to five charges of cheating her clients of RM22,000 for the same wedding package allegedly in Johor Baru and Shah Alam between March 25 and May 15 last year.
Both magistrates fixed bail at RM8,000 and set Feb 15 for mention.
Earlier, Zurina’s lawyer Hannan Ishak urged both magistrates to consider a lower bail as Zurina was financially broke and had lost her source of income as the public were shying away from her company’s wedding packages ever since her cheating cases made the headlines last year.
“My client was also recently diagnosed with diabetics and her illness requires high expenses for medicines and clinical treatments,” said Hannan.
Once much sought-after, the wedding planner landed in hot soup for allegedly cheating 91 clients by offering a cheap all-in-one wedding package, which includes wedding dais installation and food catering, at a starting promotion rate of RM5,000.
Many newlyweds who took the cheap package felt they were duped and shortchanged as they did not get what was promised on the wedding day. Complaints included unprofessional handling of the wedding ceremony, shoddy designs on the wedding dais and no catering service.
Earlier reports:
Dec 19, Wedding Planner Charged with Cheating, Fourth Time Round
Nov 21, Wedding Planner Pleads Not Guilty to Cheating Bride of RM8.5K
Oct 20, Owner of Zurin Jundi Wedding Planner Company Charged with Cheating
Sept 6, Wedding Planner Willing to Meet Couples Seeking Refunds
Sept 4, Wedding Planner Re-Arrested Following New Reports
Aug 31. Couples Demand Refund from Wedding Planner with Alleged Financial Issues