KOTA KINABALU – Seven men and three women, including two bank branch managers, were charged in the sessions court here today with being members of an organised crime group and committing a serious offence to obtain a material benefit headed by a contractor.
The 10 individuals are teacher Subramaniam Thangavelu, 56; contractor Josepin J. Langkan, 38; pensioner Nasir Abdul Rasid, 60; bank manager Irene Chin Nyuk Thien, 38; bank manager Christina @ Caroline Pianus Etip, 53; self-employed Sugumaran K. Ponniah; 56, Vireonis Jonok who is unemployed, 35; pensioner Leong Hin Ping, 62; fisherman Hasran Magin, 46; and Mazlani Jenuary who is also unemployed, 53.
They were charged separately before judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan under Section 130V (1) of the Penal Code.
The section provides for a jail term of not less than five years and not more than 20 years, upon conviction.
No plea was recorded from all 10 accused.
They are accused of being members of an organised crime group, allegedly led by the second accused Josepin.
The alleged offences were committed at a bank branch here between April 26 and July 10.
The court fixed September 13 for further mention of the cases and all 10 accused were denied bail.
The case is being handled by deputy public prosecutors Lina Hanini Ismail and Maryam Jamielah Ab Manaff.
Subramaniam was represented by counsel Datuk Ram Singh while Josepin and Vireonis were represented by counsels Hairul V Othman and Luke Ressa Balang.
Meanwhile, Sugumaran, Nasir, and Leong were defended by counsels Dominic Chew and Ariel Dasan, Irene was represented by counsels Mohd Al Hafidz Mohd Lokman and Luqman Syazwan Zabidi, Christina was represented by counsel Arthur Borine, and Mazlani was represented by counsel Datuk Marzuki Spawi.
Hasran was the only one unrepresented by legal counsel.
Early last month, funds totalling over RM24.2 million were syphoned off from several fixed deposit accounts of MBSB Bank Bhd.
On Tuesday, Bernama reported Bukit Aman commercial crime investigation department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf as saying 10 suspects, who were detained earlier under Section 4(5) of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012, would be charged after police investigations discovered elements and evidence of organised crime in the said case.
“This is the first time that court action is being taken under Sosma provisions for an offence involving commercial crime.
“On July 22, the deputy public prosecutor had given instructions to charge nine suspects under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code and one under the National Registration Regulations 1990,” he said.
Ramli added that the syndicate had started planning the “heist” at the end of last year and started activating their plan from March to June.
“The syndicate had meticulously planned and carried out the activity of siphoning money from fixed deposit accounts, including using fake MyKads to carry out transactions and manipulating fingerprint scanners used by banks for verification purposes,” he said.
Last month, police arrested a bank employee suspected of being involved in the fraudulent withdrawals of fixed deposits amounting to RM24.2 million from four accounts.
The suspect was later identified as a 38-year-old woman, who was arrested here.
The arrest was made after police received four reports from account holders and bank staff early last month in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, when the victims noticed suspicious cash withdrawals made in Kota Kinabalu involving their fixed deposit accounts.
He said all the account holders involved denied any knowledge of the transactions and said they had never been to Kota Kinabalu to make the withdrawals.
Police later detained 14 suspects, including bank officers and a businessman with a ‘datuk’ title after carrying out raids in Perlis and Sabah. – July 25, 2024