TRIO CHARGED WITH CHEATING BANKS
Accused of 16 counts of cheating involving more than RM7 million
THREE alleged members of a scam syndicate were charged at the Sessions Court yesterday with 16 counts of cheating, misappropriating and dishonestly removing more than RM7 million from various banks.
Two of the accused, S. Chandra, 41, and Amran Ahmad, 44, both traders, claimed trial to the offences while Atan Hussin, 53, who is jobless, pleaded guilty.
They were charged separately before judge Rohatul Akmar Abdullah.
Chandra was charged with eight counts of misappropriating money that was withdrawn by another person from the current accounts of several people via a cheque totalling RM3.58 million.
He was slapped with another four counts of deceiving several financial institutions, including Hong Leong Bank, Affin Islamic Bank, Malaysian Building Society Bhd (MBSB) and Am Islamic Bank, to approve loans totalling RM2.17 million.
Amran was charged with three counts of dishonestly removing money belonging to several banks, which was fraudulently obtained for a housing project loan, totalling RM790,000.
Atan was charged with a similar offence for a sum totalling RM585,000.
The offences were allegedly committed at several bank branches here between Feb 16, 2014 and June 24, 2015.
The trio were not allowed bail and their case will be up for mention on Thursday.
The judge fixed the same date for facts and sentencing for Atan.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurakmal Farhan Aziz prosecuted while Chandra was represented by counsel J. Tharma Kumar. The other two defendants were unrepresented.
It was reported that 13 people were arrested in a police crackdown on a syndicate that cheated banks of more than RM10 million.
Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Amar Singh on Thursday said the arrests were made following 12 reports lodged by financial institutions during Op Mortgage.
He said investigations revealed that the syndicate had scammed the banks between 2015 and 2016 on the pretext of applying for property loans.