Court acquits firm director of extorting Sunway tycoon charge

PETALING JAYA: A company director was acquitted of a charge of extorting RM5mil from Sunway Group chairman Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah after the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) decided not to pursue the case.

On Feb 27,2019, Cheah Chyuan Yong, 39, pleaded not guilty at the Magistrate’s Court to the charge of extorting the Sunway chairman by threatening to make public a letter from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The offence was allegedly committed with the aim to prompt him to hand over a sum of money to one Beh Chun Chuan and to settle all the accused’s debt with Sunway Leasing Sdn Bhd totalling RM5mil.

The offence was allegedly committed at Sunway Pyramid on Oct 12,2018.

Chyuan Yong was charged under Section 385 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of seven years, a fine or whipping or with any two of such punishments, upon conviction.

Lawyer Datuk Hazizah Kassim said the Magistrate’s Court had on June 16 ordered his client to be discharged not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) following the defence’s application for a release order after the Sunway chairman, who is the prosecution witness and the complainant in the case, failed to present himself to testify at the trial.

“On Aug 4,2020, we wrote to the Attorney General asking for the accused to be acquitted and discharged as his DNAA status allows him to be re-charged in the future, ” she said.

She said they received a letter from the AGC dated Oct 7 confirming that based on the excuses given in their representation, the AGC would not pursue the case.

The letter was signed by AGC’s General Crimes and Public Order Unit head Yusaini Amer Abdul Karim, she added. — Bernama