TAWAU: An assistant general manager of a gold mining company operating in the Bukit Mantri block here was charged at the Magistrate’s Court Wednesday with four counts of money-laundering, involving the sale of the company’s gold residue to a jewellery shop in Raub, Pahang, at a total value of RM230,000.
No plea was recorded from Brando Pang Tze Chiang, 50, after all four charges were read before Magistrate Don Stiwin Malanjum.
On the first charge, he is accused of receiving RM75,000 from a Maybank Islamic Berhad account (no. 556244005859) belonging to Kedai Emas Sri Hawa, which was the proceeds from unlawful activities, into his Hong Leong Bank Berhad account (no. 05250120601) at the Tawau branch between April 17, 2021 and Oct 28, 2021.
On the second charge, he is accused of receiving RM60,000 from the same jewellery shop’s Maybank account into his Hong Leong Bank account at the Tawau branch between May 6, 2022 and Feb 2, 2023, also derived from illegal activities.
Under the third charge, Pang is accused of receiving RM55,000 from the same jewellery shop’s Maybank account into his Public Bank Berhad account (no. 4541587418) at the Damansara Utama branch between April 17, 2021 and Oct 28, 2021, as proceeds from unlawful activities.
On the fourth charge, he is accused of receiving RM40,000 from the same Maybank account into his Public Bank account at the Damansara Utama branch between May 5, 2022 and Feb 2, 2023, also as proceeds from unlawful activities.
All the offences are framed under subsection 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Act 613) and are punishable under subsection 4(1) of the same Act.
The section provides for a maximum imprisonment of 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount or value of the proceeds from unlawful activity, or RM5 million, whichever is higher.
The court fixed Oct 30 (Thursday) for mention of the case before the Tawau Sessions Court and granted bail of RM10,000 for each charge with two local sureties, while the accused’s international passport was ordered to be surrendered to the court.
Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Megat Mahathir Megat Tharih Afendi requested that the accused be offered bail of RM30,000 per charge with two local sureties.
However, defence counsel Vivian Thien, representing the accused, appealed for bail to be set at RM10,000 per charge with one local surety, citing that the accused’s wife is unemployed and the couple have a nine-year-old child with a disability (autism).
She informed the court that her client earns RM12,000 a month, but faces monthly expenses of RM7,000 to support his child’s special needs, in addition to paying RM2,000 in housing loan instalments and RM1,000 for a car loan.
She added that the accused had fully cooperated with police investigations throughout the process following his arrest on Tuesday.
