May 21-25 trial of four for kidnapping Datuk

KUANTAN: The High Court yesterday set May 21-25 for the trial of four men who are accused of kidnapping of a businessman with the title of Datuk in Bandar Indera Makhota here, three years ago.

Judge Datuk Hassan Abdul Ghani fixed the dates after the prosecution informed the court that they had handed over the case documents to the defence.

In yesterday’s proceedings, the prosecution was represented by deputy public prosecutors Datuk Faridz Gohim Abdullah, Muhammad Asyraf Md Kamal and Shahrul Ekhsan Hassim while counsel S. Sundarajan and Eng Yuh Pei for all four accused.

The four, Low Sing Hwa, 31, Tham Hock Ann, 38, Chong Yee Loon, 40 and Liew Chee Wei, 38, are charged with wrongfully confining Datuk Chin Yoke Choon, 53, for a RM19 million ransom.

The are accused of committing the offence at 5.55pm on Dec 26, 2015 at the parking lot of Hotel Sri Manja Boutique at Jalan IM7/1, Bandar Indera Mahkota here.

They were charged under Section 3 of the Kidnapping Act 1961 (reviewed 1969) (Act 365) read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code whereby the punishment is death or life sentence with whipping, if convicted.

All four were also charged under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code for being members of a criminal gang..

This section provides for jail of not less than five years and not more than 20 years, if convicted.

The case drew wide media attention with the modus operandi receiving special mention.

It was reported that the men had used a car with the police emblem to ambush the Datuk, who was kept in confinement for 74 days and only released after the ransom was paid in Malaysian and Singaporean currency. - Bernama