BUTTERWORTH: The chief executive officer and managing director of an investment company have been charged in two separate Sessions Courts here with 30 counts each of accepting nearly RM750,000 in deposits without a valid licence.
Chief executive officer Abdul Wahab S. Mohd Mydin, 53, and managing director Mohd Nasri Abdul Rahim, 36, claimed trial to accepting deposits without a valid licence from three people at various banks in Penang and one in Selangor between April 2019 and Feb 14, 2020.
They were charged under Section 137(1) of the Financial Services Act 2013, punishable under Section 137(2) of the same Act, which carries up to 10 years’ jail, a fine of up to RM50mil or both, upon conviction.
The abetting charges were read together with Section 109 of the Penal Code.
In the first Sessions Court before judge Noor Aini Yusof, Mohd Nasri faced 16 charges of accepting deposits and three more of accepting the deposits without a valid licence while abetting Abdul Wahab for the same purpose.
According to the charge sheets, Mohd Nasri is alleged to have accepted about RM430,000 in cash deposits without a valid licence from three people for investment purposes.
Mohd Nasri’s lawyer S. Raveentharan asked for a reasonable bail amount.
“He has made a police report against a legal firm whom he paid RM1.05mil to obtain the licence but it did not go through with it, hence these charges,” he said.
Noor Aini set bail at RM117,000 for all charges in one surety per charge and ordered Mohd Nasri to surrender his passport to the court until the end of his cases.
In the same court, Abdul Wahab was slapped with 10 charges of accepting the deposits without a valid licence while abetting Mohd Nasri for the same amount of money.
Noor Aini set bail at RM71,000 for all charges in one surety for each charge and told Abdul Wahab to surrender his passport.
At another Sessions Court, Mohd Nasri was charged with 11 counts of accepting deposits without a valid licence at the same time and place.
Judge Norhayati Mohamed Yunus set bail at RM5,000 for each charge, totalling RM55,000, in one surety for each charge and ordered Mohd Nasri to surrender his passport.
Abdul Wahab was then charged with 19 counts – one for accepting deposits without a valid licence and 18 for accepting the deposits without a valid licence while abetting Mohd Nasri without a valid licence.Norhayati set bail at RM5,000 per charge, totalling RM95,000, in one surety for each charge.
Both courts fixed Aug 1 for mention of the cases, pending submission of documents.
