KUALA LUMPUR: A total of RM299.6mil in proceeds from illegal gambling were seized recently, says Comm Datuk Muhammad Hasbullah Ali.
The IGP secretariat's Anti-Money Laundering (AMLA) division head said the funds were transferred into the country by a foreigner who was the leader of an online gambling syndicate in an attempt to launder the money.
"The individual tried to evade detection by transferring the illegal funds into the country via an offshore financial service. The suspect is in his 30s and opened an offshore account last year with the aim of transferring the funds into Malaysia," he said.
"He wanted to launder the funds derived from the illegal activity," added Comm Hasbullah at a press conference on Tuesday (Aug 13).
Comm Hasbullah said the suspect is still at large and has dual citizenship
"He received proceeds from illegal gambling through commissions from bets placed on his online platform. The suspect had about 10,000 gamblers, who placed up to RM14.05bil worth of bets between 2012 and 2020," he said.
"Some RM371mil of the proceeds were transferred into Malaysia," added Comm Hasbullah.
He said the division has frozen the funds brought into the country's economic system.
"One of them is a Central Depository System (CDS) account, which has 108,625 units of shares worth RM281mil. We also seized an escrow account worth RM18.5mil handled by a local investment bank as well as two local bank accounts with RM58,048 in funds," he added.
Comm Hasbullah said the suspect is still at large and also has an Interpol Red Notice, requested from authorities in his country of origin.
"We need the cooperation from the private sector to curb money laundering. We need their cooperation in supplying information on suspicious financial transaction. We also remind all offshore banks to conduct due diligence before accepting any customer," he said.
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Interpol, Offshore, account, money laundering, Comm Datuk Muhammad Hasbullah Ali
