TAWAU: Forty-one Chinese nationals claimed trial to an amended charge of involving in an online insurance scam syndicate operating from a resort in the district in April this year.
Zhou Qiliang and 40 others entered their pleas, respectively, before Magistrate Dayang Aidaku Amira Aminuddin after the amended charge was read to them in Mandarin on Monday.
The 40 accused, together with 39 others who are still at large, were alleged to have jointly engaged in a criminal conspiracy to deceive victims in an insurance scam through telephone and video calls while impersonating police officers from China.
The offence allegedly took place at a resort in Tawau at about 9.25pm on April 7, 2026.
The amended charged framed under Section 417 of the Penal Code carries a penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both upon conviction.
The court set Oct. 12-16 for trial.
In another related case, the court also issued arrest warrants to the 41 accused who failed to appear for the document handover proceedings.
Dayang Aidaku subsequently fixed also Oct 12 to 16 for the trial involving the 42 accused who were present and had received the prosecution documents.
They face charges under Section 120B(2) of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, for criminal conspiracy.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nur Nisla Abd Latif appeared for the prosecution, while several of the accused were represented by counsels Jhesseny P. Kang and Chen Wen Jye.
On May 25, the High Court issued arrest warrants against 39 of the 80 individuals charged in connection with the online scam syndicate after they failed to appear for a further mention of the case and were believed to have absconded.
Judicial Commissioner Steve Ritikos issued the warrants after the 39 again failed to attend proceedings relating to their application for a review of their bail conditions.
The High Court also revoked their bail and ordered their bail monies be forfeited to the Malaysian Government.
The High Court tightened the bail conditions for all 80 accused comprising 78 Chinese nationals, including four women, and one national each from Myanmar and Laos by ordering their passports to be surrendered and requiring them to report regularly to the police.
On April 15, the court allowed all the accused to be released on bail after taking into account that the offence was bailable, following their not guilty pleas to the criminal conspiracy charge.
