SHAH ALAM: A construction company director pleaded not guilty to 11 charges involving land fraud and money laundering amounting to more than RM3.7mil at the Sessions Court here Thursday (May 7).
A. Rama Rao, 65, entered the plea after the charges were read before Judge Mohd Nasir Nordin.
According to the first charge, as director of RV Global Sdn Bhd, he allegedly deceived an industrial company into surrendering 3.24ha of land in Serendah, Hulu Selangor.
Rama Rao allegedly committed the act at the industrial company in Shah Alam on July 18, 2007, by claiming that he was representing 136 former workers of Serendah Estate, whereby the company would not have surrendered the land had it not been deceived.
He was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of 10 years, whipping and a fine upon conviction.
For the subsequent charges, he was accused of being directly involved in two transfers of land ownership belonging to his company, RV Global Sdn Bhd, to Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd, involving plots measuring 0.216ha and 0.6158ha, which were believed to have originated from unlawful activities.
Both transfers were allegedly carried out at the Selangor Department of the Director-General of Lands and Mines in Klang on July 18, 2023 and Nov 19, 2024.
He was also accused of transferring funds allegedly derived from unlawful activities amounting to RM318,605, RM24,000, RM136,000, RM130,000, RM100,000, RM2mil, RM700,000 and RM300,000 between Dec 30, 2024 and Dec 30, 2025 into several bank accounts, including those belonging to his other companies, his wife, child, investment accounts, fixed deposit accounts and relatives.
For the two offences involving land ownership transfer, he was charged under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 [Act 613], read together with Section 87(1)(a) of the same Act, and punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act.
The remaining eight charges involving fund transfers were framed under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 [Act 613], read together with Section 87(1)(a), and punishable under Section 4(1) of the same Act.
The offences carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount or value of the proceeds from the unlawful activities, or RM5mil, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy public prosecutor Asmaa' Zamri proposed bail of RM100,000 for all charges, along with additional conditions including surrendering his passport to the court, reporting to the MACC office and not interfering with prosecution witnesses.
Lawyer M. Teeruvarasu later appealed for reasonable bail, taking into account that Rama Rao is a kidney patient who requires hospital treatment three times a week and is the sole breadwinner for his 63-year-old wife.
The court set bail at RM80,000 with the additional conditions, and fixed June 10 for case mention. - Bernama
