Court day: The female and male suspects being taken to court separately to be charged.
PORT DICKSON: Thirty-six Chinese nationals were jointly charged in the Magistrate’s Court here for committing criminal conspiracy against their fellow countrymen by inducing them to invest in non-existent investment schemes.
No plea was recorded from the accused after they were charged before magistrate Mohd Farez Rahman as they did not understand Bahasa Malaysia.
The accused, aged between 22 and 39, were charged with operating an online call centre to scam Chinese nationals.
Five of the accused were women. They were charged with committing the offence at a house in Taman Tanjung near here around 3.30pm on Aug 21.
The foreigners were charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 120B(2) of the same legislation.
Offenders can be jailed for up to six months or fined, or both, upon conviction.
The lawyer for the accused asked the court to allow bail as they had been in police custody for 13 days.
However, the deputy public prosecutor objected to bail as all the accused were a flight risk.
He said checks with the Immigration Department revealed that their travel pass had either expired or did not exist.
“We have also received a letter from the Chinese Embassy here that their travel documents have been revoked due to offences in their country of origin.
“Also, the accused have failed to furnish us with any document to prove what they were doing here or any local address or relatives here,” the DPP said.
Magistrate Mohd Farez then said that to be given bail, a foreigner should have a valid travel document, a local contact address and two locals to act as sureties.
“Since all of you can’t meet those conditions, bail is hereby denied,” he said, adding that the accused were also a flight risk.
He then fixed Sept 12 for mention and for the court to secure the services of a Mandarin interpreter.
Apart from arresting the accused in a raid on Aug 21, police also seized 94 mobile phones, 36 laptops and related items worth about RM220,000.
