PUTRAJAYA (Jan 11): The Court of Appeal has postponed to Feb 5, the sentencing of four former Genneva Sdn Bhd directors convicted of money laundering, due to confusion over charges that are still relevant after the number of charges were dropped to 224, from 760 previously.
Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the counsel for Chin Wai Leong, said some time is needed to clear up the confusion over which charges are still relevant, as charges that have been dropped under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 (BAFIA) must also be dropped under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLA).
However, for the charges under BAFIA that still stand, it does not necessarily mean that the directors would be liable under AMLA.
“Give us a little time and let us find out. We should find this out first to better advice the court before we proceed,” Shafee said.
He added he is cognisant of the fact that Judge Datuk Seri Zakaria Sam has limited time as he will be retiring in early March, and suggested the case be pushed to end January or early February.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud agreed with the suggestion for the postponement.
“There is some confusion and to clarify the matter, a bit more time is needed. I understand that Yang Arif will be retiring in March, so I agree with the suggestion to postpone it to end January,” Awang Mahmud said, before the court set Feb 5 as the new sentencing date.
On Dec 12, the appeals court found Chin, 42, fellow ex-directors Ng Poh Weng, 68, Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 66, and Liew Chee Wah, 64, as well as Genneva, guilty of 293 counts of money laundering.
They were also convicted of five counts of illegal deposit-taking, involving more than RM100 million.
The proceeding was initially set for Jan 4, but was adjourned to Jan 11 after the court was informed Chin had appointed new lawyers, led by Shafee.
Shafee was not present in court on Jan 4 and another lawyer, Sarah Abishegum, sought an adjournment to allow Shafee to attend court and mitigate his client’s sentence.
This case can be traced back to as early as July 21, 2009, when Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) started investigating Genneva on suspicion of illegal deposit-taking activities.
Slightly more than a year later, the four ex-directors were charged in the Sessions Court. In March 2011, they were slapped with additional charges.
However, the Sessions Court acquitted them in May 2013. Upon appeal, the case went to the High Court, which affirmed the acquittal on Sept 20, 2016.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers and BNM then appealed the decision.
In 2012, then Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Awang Adek Husin told Parliament that Genneva had 35,000 investors, and that the company had raised some RM10 billion from the public. By the end of that year, a statement by the authorities revealed Genneva’s liabilities exceeded 10 times its assets.
Investigations by authorities also revealed over 8,000 customers of Genneva Malaysia who had paid for gold amounting to more than 4,000kg, had yet to receive the precious product, and that RM80 million was owed to customers who had surrendered their gold to the company but yet to receive their cash reimbursement.