PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday set a new date, Feb 5 for mitigation and sentencing of four former directors of a gold investment company found guilty of 224 joint charges of money laundering involving more than RM100 million.
Ng Poh Weng, 67, Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 65, Chin Wai Leong, 41, and Liew Chee Wah, 63, and their former company, Genneva Sdn Bhd (GSB) also face sentencing separately for receiving deposits from the public without a licence.
At the proceeding for mitigation and sentencing fixed for today, the prosecution applied for a postponement, telling the court that it needed time to sort out the confusion over the number of money laundering charges faced by the four.
The prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Hamzah and lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
Hamdan told the court that the investigating officer who was the 42nd witness, had testified that the respondents faced 760 charges; however, there was no mention of it in any of the notes of evidence or in the appeal record.
“We cannot trace the figure and found the number of charges reduced to 224.
We need time to identify which of the charges have been dropped,” he told the three-man panel chaired by Datuk Wira Mohtarudin Baki, which also comprised Datuk Seri Zakaria Sam and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
Justice Abdul Karim also noted that the appeal notice and notes of evidence at the High Court and Sessions Court stated the number of charges as 224.
Earlier, Muhammad Shafee proposed end of January or early February for the new date as justice Zakaria would be retiring in March.
On Dec 12, 2017, the court of appeal found the four ex-company directors guilty of 224 counts of money laundering and five counts with the company, of receiving deposits from the public without a licence.
Justice Mohtarudin said the panel found that the prosecution as appellant in the case had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
On Sept 20, 2016, the Kuala Lumpur High Court upheld the decision of the Sessions Court to acquit the respondents after ruling that the investment
company was only carrying out physical buying and selling and that there was no evidence to show that the company had accepted deposits from the public illegally.
On May 16, 2013, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court acquitted the four individuals after ruling that the defence had succeeded in casting a reasonable doubt on the prosecution’s case.
The respondents committed the money laundering offences at Menara Public Bank, 146 in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur between July 2008 and June 2009, and illegal deposit-taking offences, at the company’s premises in Jalan Kuchai Maju 6, Kuala Lumpur, between November 2008 and July 2009. —Bernama