Datuk charged with money laundering

PETALING JAYA: The chairman of Koperasi Pembangunan Hartanah Putrajaya, 37- year old Datuk Nazrul Izad Mohd Arsad was charged by a Sessions Court here with three counts of money laundering amounting to RM1.52mil.

He pleaded not guilty to the three charges after they were read out to him today.

The three counts of money laundering fell under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 and was read together with Section 87(1)(a) of the same act.

If found guilty, Nazrul could face a maximum RM5 million fine, a jail term of up to 5 years or both for each of the three charges.

He allegedly received money from illegal activities via a cheque that was banked into an account belonging to Koperasi Pembangunan Hartanah Putrajaya in Hong Leong Bank Berhad, and is accused of having committed the offences on Nov 26 and Nov 29 in 2013 and Feb 2014 at Taman Setapak Indah Jaya in Kuala Lumpur.

Sessions Court Judge Mohamad Kamil Nizam set bail at RM100,000, and instructed Nazrul to hand over his passport and report himself to a police station every month.

In submissions for bail, Deputy Public Prosecutor Husmarudin Husin sought for bail to be set at RM300,000.

Nazrul’s lawyer Mohd Shahril Adan however argued that RM300,000 was too high for bail as his client was innocent and had yet to be proven guilty.

He said the bail should be to ensure his client's  appearance in court, and sought for bail of RM60,000.

Shahril added that his client also had five children to support and that he had received his Datukship in 2013.

Mohamad Kamil set mention for May 27 after Husmarudin asked if it could be done together with another case of money laundering. The case also involves Koperasi Hartanah Malaysia Bhd (Kohama) chief executive officer Datuk Jali Sekak, 50, and two other women with 35 counts of money laundering amounting to RM2.1 mil.