Recently, the Courts in China sentenced Evergrande founder, once Asia's richest man to life in prison.
His crime - misuse of funds, fundraising fraud, illegally taking public deposits, illegally extending loans, fraudulently issuing securities and bribery.
Sentence was meted out 5 years after the firm's collapse shook the nation's economy and financial markets.
At the height of Evergrande’s growth, the founder was the symbol of extreme wealth especially with his flamboyant lifestyle, flying around the world in his private jet.
Evergrande piled up huge debts and failed to pay back investors, leading to a massive company collapse.
The rise of Evergrande’s expansion was based on debts, turning it into the world’s most indebted developer as the founder transformed the property giant into a sprawling conglomerate.
Chinese authorities, however, concluded that his rise was built on deception.
They said the founder had perpetrated a massive financial fraud that included inflating assets and concealing liabilities.
Does this sound familiar?
Corporate Malaysia have had its fair share of corporate failures and deceptions and fraud too.
But none was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Perpetrators of corporate fraud in Malaysia do not receive lifetime imprisonment.
Under Malaysian law, white-collar crimes and corporate frauds are not capital offenses, and the statutory maximum penalties for these crimes generally top out at 10 to 20 years of imprisonment per charge, along with heavy fines and whipping for individuals.
Llife sentence is legally preserved for specific security, drug trafficking, or violent offenses under the Penal Code.
Cheating, the most common charge for corporate or financial scams carries a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment, mandatory whipping and a fine.
Market manipulation, insider trading, or furnishing false statements to Bursa Malaysia typically carry maximum prison sentences of up to 10 years and millions in fines under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.
China's willingness to utilize ultimate state execution and lifelong incapacitation specifically for high-level corruption and crimes against the state economy, contrasted with Malaysia's statutory reliance on a blend of fixed-term incarceration, financial restitution, and corporal punishment.
The inability of the Madani government and for all the preceding government in eradicating corruption probably is a testament to our system.
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