SEREMBAN: A 63-year-old site supervisor claimed trial at the Sessions Court here to four money-laundering charges after he allegedly deceived two individuals of nearly RM1.9mil over a fraudulent land sale in Rembau.
Law Tuan Hai pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to him before Judge Shahrul Rizal Majid.
On the first charge, the accused allegedly received a RM300,000 cheque from a company account, which was proceeds from an unlawful activity and deposited it into his personal bank account.
He was paid the money after allegedly deceiving a 49-year-old victim from the company into believing that he was the owner of the land in Rembau and was planning to sell it.
Law was slapped with a second charge of cheating the same victim of RM100,000 for the same purpose.
This time, the money was transferred directly from the company’s account into his personal account.
For the third charge, he allegedly received RM1.14mil from the same victim for the sale of the same property.
The accused was also charged with dishonestly deceiving another 54-year-old individual of transferring RM338,000 into his bank account after misleading the victim into believing that he was the owner of the said land and was planning to sell it.
Law was charged with committing the offences between Dec 5 and 11, 2023 at a bank in Bahau.
He was charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
Offenders can be jailed up to 15 years and fined a minimum of RM5mil or five times the total value of the laundered proceeds, whichever is higher.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurliyana R.Azmi then told the court the prosecution was offering the accused bail of RM30,000 for each charge.
She also asked the court to transfer the case to the Penang Sessions Court as the predicate offence was committed in the state.
Counsel for the accused Raqib Osman pleaded for a lower bail as the accused has already paid RM105,000 in bail for charges in other courts.
"My client is also not a flight risk as he is married and has two children to provide for," he said, adding that he earned about RM5,000 a month.
Raqib said the accused has also surrendered his passport to the court as ordered by another court earlier and reports at the Bahau police station every month until his cases are disposed of.
He also objected to the prosecution's application that the case be transferred to Penang.
"The illegal proceeds which he allegedly received were through a bank in Bahau while the property he claimed to have owned is also in nearby Rembau.
"We can actually apply for the Penang case to be transferred here to save cost and time," he said.
Judge Shahrul then fixed bail at RM8,000 for each charge.
He also allowed the prosecution's application to transfer the case to Penang so it could be heard together with the ongoing case there.
