Kota Kinabalu: Twenty Chinese men and a Taiwanese woman were charged in the Magistrates’ Courts here on Monday with criminal conspiracy linked to a non-existent investment scheme.
The accused, aged between 21 and 37, pleaded not guilty before Magistrates Marilyn Kelvin, Dzul Elmy Yunus and Wan Farrah Farriza Wan Ghazali after the charge was read to them in Mandarin.
Before Marilyn were Zhang Yi Liang, Yang Hao Xin, Ma Jian Chao, Zhang En Qi, Zou Xiang Lai, Xu Jou Jie, Wen Zhong Hua and Dai Wen Hao.
Li Yong Bin, Wei Ming Ya, Wang Zhi Hong, Che Shi Xing, Xie Shuang, Lu Zuo Wei and Zhang Hao appeared before Dzul Elmy.
Fan Zi Sheng, Zhu Shan Jie, Chui Xiao Feng, Ma Pan, Wang Hao and Taiwanese national Li Xuan Qi were brought before Wan Farrah.
They were jointly charged with being parties to a criminal conspiracy by agreeing among themselves to dishonestly induce victims to believe in the existence of a non-existent investment scheme, contrary to Section 417 of the Penal Code.
The offence was allegedly committed in a hotel room at Bandaran Berjaya, here, at about 10pm on May 21, this year.
The charge was framed under Section 120B(1) of the Penal Code.
Upon conviction, they are liable to imprisonment for up to five years, a fine, or both, pursuant to Section 417 of the Penal Code.
The prosecution, in applying a date for pre-trial case management, objected to bail on the grounds that all the accused were foreigners and posed a flight risk.
Counsel Shahlan Jufri and Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi Md Zain, appearing for all the accused, informed the courts that all the accused possess valid travel documents.
Earlier in the Sessions Court, nineteen of the China nationals and the Taiwanese woman were charged with overstaying to which they claimed trial.
They entered the plea separately before Sessions Court Judge Hurman Hussain, after the charges against them were read in Mandarin.
According to the charge, they were arrested on May 21 at about 10pm in a hotel room at Bandaran Berjaya, here after being found to have remained in Sabah beyond the validity period of their visit passes, which were only valid between April and May.
They were charged under Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, punishable under Section 15(4) of the same Act provides for a fine of up to RM10,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both, upon conviction.
The court fixed this Friday (June 12) for a further mention of the case to allow the prosecution to obtain verification regarding the immigration stamps found in each accused person’s passport.
No bail was considered during the Monday’s proceedings and any application relating to the matter will be heard on the same date.
All the accused persons were ordered to remain in custody pending the further mention of the case.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Bryan Francis and Akaash Singh appeared for the prosecution while counsels Shahlan Jufri and Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi defended the 20.
