Company owner claims trial to money laundering charges

A company owner yesterday claimed trial at the Sessions Court here to 15 counts of money laundering activities involving RM100,000 from 2016 to last year Chan Wai Sun, 63, made the plea after all the charges were read before Judge Mohd Fauzi Mohd Nasir. Of the 14 charges, he was allegedly using his current, savings as well as a companyowned bank account, Perniagaan GT Maju, to accept proceeds from illegal activities. He was accused to have used his fixed deposit account at Public Bank Berhad to accept proceeds from illegal activities involving RM100,000 from a current account which also belonged to him at the same bank. It was allegedly committed in Ipoh Garden and Gunung Rapat branches of Maybank Berhad respectively, and Bercham branch of Public Bank Berhad here between Jan 4, 2016, and May 27, 2019. The charges were framed under Subsection 4 (1) (b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 ( AMLATFPUAA) and read together with subsection 87 (1) (a) of the same Act for charges of using his current account. If convicted, the accused can be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years’ jail and a fine of not less than five times the amount of value from the illegal activities or instruments of offence at the time the offence was committed or RM5 million, whichever is higher. Deputy public prosecutor Syafinas Shabudin prosecuted, while Chan was represented by a lawyer, Wan Muhd Ariff Ameer Wan Normazlan. Earlier, Syafinas proposed bail of RM100,000 while the counsel pleaded for a lower bail as the accused now has no income and has a wife and a daughter to support, and had been cooperating with the police since the investigations began last year. Chan was allowed bail of RM40,000 with one surety and also ordered to surrender his passport to the court. The court also ordered him to report himself to the nearest police station at the beginning of every month pending disposal of the case and set Aug 28 for mention.