Directors fail to obtain stay and bail
Court rejects ex-Genneva heads’ application for the third time
PUTRAJAYA: The four former directors of gold investment company Genneva Sdn Bhd have failed for the third time to obtain bail and a stay against their eight- year jail sentence for money laundering and receiving unlicensed deposits amounting to more than RM200mil.
Ng Poh Weng, 67, Datuk Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 65, Chin Wai Leong, 41, and Liew Chee Wah, 63, made the application for stay of execution and bail pending the review hearing of their sentence.
Court of Appeal judge Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who sat with Justices Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid and Zaleha Yusof, said their decision was unanimous.
Justice Tengku Maimun said they did not see any special circumstances for the panel to grant the four appellants the stay and bail.
She said the sentence should proceed since the four applicants had been convicted and sentenced.
“Therefore, we dismiss the application for bail and stay,” she said yesterday.
Justice Tengku Maimun then fixed April 24 for the review hearing on the sentence.
The four made a similar application to secure bail and stay but the application was rejected by two Court of Appeal panels on Feb 22 and 28.
On Feb 21, the Court of Appeal convicted them on 154 charges of money laundering and four counts of receiving unlicensed deposits.
They were sentenced to eight years’ jail and a fine of RM1mil each.
Justice Mohtarudin Baki, who chaired the three-man panel, ordered them to serve the sentences consecutively from that day after their oral application for a stay was denied by the court.
Justice Mohtarudin also convicted the firm on five counts of receiving deposits from the public without a licence and fined it RM2mil.
The other judges on the panel were Justices Zakaria Sam and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
On May 16, 2013, the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court freed the four and the High Court upheld that decision on Sept 20, 2016.
The prosecution then filed an appeal.
They committed the moneylaundering offences at Menara Public Bank, 146, Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur between July 2008 and June 2009.
The illegal deposit- taking offences took place at the company’s premises in Jalan Kuchai Maju 6, Kuala Lumpur between November 2008 and July 2009.
Counsel Datuk Harpal Singh Grewal and Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah appeared for Chin, Datuk Nicholas Kow for Ng and Yee while Keppy Wong represented Liew.