Site supervisor charged with transferring RM1.9mil in illegal proceeds
Law Tuan Hai, 63, pleaded not guilty to four money laundering charges linked to a purported property sale in Rembau.
A 63-year-old project site supervisor has pleaded not guilty to charges of receiving and transferring RM1.9 million in proceeds from unlawful activity.
The accused, Law Tuan Hai, entered the plea after the charges were read before judge Shahrul Rizal Majid, Harian Metro reported.
According to the charges, he received nearly RM1.54 million in proceeds of unlawful activity from a company's bank account, having dishonestly deceived a 49-year-old man into transferring the money into his current account.
He is also accused of receiving RM338,000 in proceeds of unlawful activity from the savings account of a 54-year-old man.
The charges state that the transfers, totalling RM1.9 million, were made after the accused deceived the two victims into believing that he wanted to sell a plot of property in Mukim Kundor, Rembau, when he was not the rightful owner of the property.
The offences were allegedly committed at a bank in Bahau, Jempol, between Dec 5 and Dec 11, 2023.
The charges were brought under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, punishable under Subsection 4(1) of the same Act.
On conviction, the offence carries a jail term of up to 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of the unlawful activity or the instrumentalities of the offence at the time the offence was committed, or RM5 million, whichever is higher.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurliyana R Azmi, who prosecuted, offered bail of RM30,000 for each charge and applied for the case to be transferred and tried at the Georgetown sessions court in Penang.
She said the application was made because charges had been brought against the accused in Georgetown a day earlier, and because of the close link between the money laundering cases.
The accused, represented by lawyer Raqib Osman, sought lower bail, saying his client posed no flight risk and could not afford a high bail sum.
The court allowed bail of RM8,000 for each charge with two sureties. The application to transfer and try the four charges together with the case at the Georgetown sessions court was also allowed.
The case was set for mention on Sept 9 for the delivery of documents.
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