Hi All,
I've been in ROL for quite sometime and never contribute anything before so I think is time for me to to contribute to the club.
Here is the latest infor on PIPS, fresh from Oven!
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A couple was charged in a Sessions Court here with a total of six charges of illegal deposit-taking involving two Internet-based companies.
This is the country’s first online illegal deposit-taking case which involved 18 local depositors for RM650,000 that was investigated by Bank Negara.
British national Bryan John Marsden, 59, claimed trial to four charges while his Malaysian wife Phan Sew Ken, 52, pleaded not guilty to two such charges Tuesday.
The duo, who are directors of the New Mark Business Centres Sdn Bhd and PicPay Dot Com Sdn Bhd, appeared relaxed upon hearing their charges.
The two were said to have accepted deposits from the depositors without a valid licence under Section 6(4) of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 to carry on banking business, finance company, merchant bank or discount house.
Marsden, who also represented for the said companies, was accused of committing the offences at Bandar Baru Nilai in Seremban between April 10, 2004 and July 4, 2005.
Phan, a former teacher, was alleged to have committed the offences at the same place and period.
If convicted, each accused can be fined up to RM10mil or sentenced up to 10 years’ jail or both under Section 103(1)(a) of the same Act.
Prosecuting officer Fahmi Ab.Moin, from Bank Negara, applied for a joint-trial saying that the case involved same witnesses. Fahmi said the prosecution would be calling 15 witnesses to testify in the trial.
Fahmi also offered bail at RM500,000 for each accused in two Malaysian sureties and asked the court to impound their international passport.
Pleading for lower bail, lawyer J. Kuldeep Kumar claimed that Marsden, a former project manager for KLIA and KLCC, and his wife had co-operated with the Bank Negara throughout the investigations of the case.
Kuldeep Kumar said both had been released on police bail of RM100,000 for a year with the condition to report to the Nilai police station.
“It is unreasonable to ask for a higher bail now,” he said.
He said Marsden had been charged at Seremban Sessions Court for 50 counts under the Anti-Money Laundering Act while his wife faced 48 similar charges there but could not higher bail imposed by the court and had to spend a year under remand.
He said Bank Negara had frozen his clients’ assets adding that investigating officer Abdul Halim Mohamed Dalib had affirmed an affidavit stating that RM8.34mil worth of properties and company assets belonging to the couple had been frozen by Bank Negara.
“I apply for this court to take into consideration the amount which had been frozen by Bank Negara as a surety to ensure their attendance in court,” he said.
He said the couple did not have money for bail and urged the court to set their bail at RM20,000 in one surety for each accused.
Judge Rozana Ali Yusoff set bail at RM400,000 in one Malaysian surety for Marsden while fixed bail at RM300,000 in one Malaysian surety for Phan. The couple failed to post bail.
Rozana also impounded their passports and set three days from May.