BID TO PUT LIOW ON INTERPOL LIST
Police say this will allow authorities to cast a wider net for fugitive businessman
POLICE have submitted an application to include fugitive businessman Datuk Seri Nicky Liow Soon Hee on the International Criminal Police Organisation’s (Interpol) wanted list.
This will allow authorities to cast a wider net for Liow, 33, anywhere in the 194 member countries.
Johor police chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said police did not rule out the possibility that Liow would attempt to leave the country illegally to evade arrest.
Liow was alleged to be the leader of the Nicky Gang and headed the biggest Macau scam and money laundering syndicates with links to triads in Macau.
“We believe the suspect is hiding in the Klang Valley, but he may try to flee Malaysia,” he said after a town hall programme at the Tun Hussein Onn Teachers Education Campus Institute yesterday.
Ayob said police had not established Liow’s whereabouts, but as a precaution, they had issued a notice for his arrest at all legal and illegal exits in the country.
He said the suspect had a wide network and plenty of assistance, including from those in enforcement agencies and “people in high places” who might help him leave the country.
On Tuesday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said 34 public sector personnel, including those from the police force, were believed to have had a role in allowing Liow to escape the Op Pelican 3.0 dragnet to nab him.
He said Liow was believed to have been tipped off about the raid and had fled a week earlier.
When contacted earlier, Ayob said more policemen had come under scrutiny.
He said aside from those who had been detained, police had also set their sights on other staff and officers who might have an affiliation with the syndicate.
“We have yet to establish the extent of their involvement with the syndicate.
“A few of them are being questioned.
“If there is evidence that these policemen were working with Liow’s syndicate, we will take action against them.”
He said it was only a matter of time before the authorities find him since they had picked up other suspects in Op Pelican 3.0.
Op Pelican 3.0 saw the involvement of the Johor Police Commercial Crime Investigation Department, Johor Criminal Investigation Department and the General Operations Force’s 4th Battalion from March 20 to 28.
Police arrested 68 people and seized cash as well as assets worth millions of ringgit in 70 raids in Selangor and the Klang Valley.
Earlier last month, he said his team was looking for a former deputy public prosecutor suspected of having been involved with Liow in money laundering and commercial crimes in the state.
Liow is wanted as a suspect under Sections 130 V to 130 ZB of the Penal Code for organised crime offences.
Two investigation papers have been opened concerning Liow in Johor under the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012. He is known to be the mastermind behind several online and investment scams, including money laundering, amounting to almost RM1 billion.
He had 12 criminal records involving drugs and assault cases, including a case that made headlines in 2017 involving two Rela members at the Kou Ong Yah temple in Kuala Lumpur.
His last-known whereabouts was at SetiaWalk, Puchong, while his last known address was Unit 1009, Trigon Residences, Puchong, Selangor.
Those with information on Liow can contact investigating officer Assistant Superintendent V. Prakash at 012-5209767 or any police station.