Gold trading firm director to be sentenced today
Published on: Thursday, October 30, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: A 33-year-old Malay woman from Perak who on Wednesday maintained her guilty of plea on charges of money laundering and receiving deposits illegally from the public, will know what the penalty will be for her offences today (Thursday).Sessions Court Judge Azreena Aziz adjourned the sentencing of gold trading company director Datuk Noor Ismahanum Mohd Ismail, after hearing the facts of the case, mitigation and reply from parties.Ismahanum on Tuesday had pleaded guilty to all the charges against her and her company, Worldwide Far East Berhad.ADVERTISEMENT She is accused of receiving deposits of about RM3.88 million from the public without a valid licence under Sub-Section 6(4) of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia) 1989.The charge states that she received the illegal deposits through a scheme involving gold transactions at the Marina Court condominium along Jalan Tun Fuad Stephen between Dec 6 and Dec 28, 2010.Her company was also charged with committing the same offence between Dec 28, 2010 and April 23, 2012 at No 11B, 11th floor in Wisma Fok Loi, here.The offence under Section 25(1) of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 and punishable under Section 103(1)(a) of the same Act carries a fine of not more than RM10 million or up to 10 years' jail, or both, on conviction.ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, Ismahanum and her company were each charged with 57 counts of money laundering in Kuala Lumpur involving RM6.25 million.Ismahanum and the company allegedly used money derived from illegal activities in a CIMB Bank Berhad account belonging to the company in Jalan Radin Tengah, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling in Kuala Lumpur between July 4, 2011 and Dec 31, 2012.
ADVERTISEMENT
The offence under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing (Amla) Act 2001 provides for a fine of up to RM5 million, or a jail term of up to five years, or both, on conviction.During mitigation, counsel Zahir Shah who represented Ismahanum and the company applied for a minimum fine to be imposed on the company and no imprisonment sentence.As for Ismahanum, Zahir applied for only a minimum jail sentence to be handed to her, because she does not have enough money and also applied for the jail sentences to be served concurrently in Kajang prison so that it would be easy for her family to visit her. According to Zahir, Ismahanum was the sole breadwinner for her family and that she supported her parents and two siblings who are disabled.Zahir said both his clients had no intention to breach the law as they had only been operating their business and sharing their profits with their clients and that they had started their business without realising their business needed a licence from Bank Negara.Zahir also submitted that Ismahanum and her company had contributed a lot to society and country and among their contributions were they had been a main contributor to NGOs in implementing charity works and also a main contributor to the publication of the '100 Wira Negara' book. He further said his client had regretted her offence and promised not to repeat it in future.In reply, Bank Negara Prosecuting Officer Siti Nabilah Huda who appeared together with Fahmi Abd Moin, applied for a deterrent sentence on the grounds that through the scheme the company and Ismahanum had collected about RM16.5 million over two years and about 500 people had been involved in the scheme.Nabilah said none of the investors in the scheme had ever received any gold from the company and Ismahanum as promoted by the scheme.Meanwhile, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nik Haslinie Hashim from the Anti Money Laundering Unit of the A-G's Department added that the amount involved was about RM286 million but only RM76 million was seized.Nik also told the court that it should take into account Ismahanum's act where she tried to hide, making it difficult for all parties. The facts of the case stated that on April 23, 2012, a police team from the Commercial Branch here raided the company's premises believed to be operating an activity to receive illegal deposits from the public.On further investigation, the company represented by Ismahanum, was found to have operated a scheme which involved gold transactions called 'Gold Discovery Product' (GDP). GDP was a gold investment scheme where the company offered the public gold for sale at a minimum weight of 10gm and 5gm for the disabled and students.Ismahanum had started the scheme on Dec 6, 2010 and the scheme was conducted through direct transaction with the investors and Ismahanum who used her personal account.On Dec 28, 2010, the company was incorporated and continued the scheme but all transactions still used Ismahanum's personal account.Investigation revealed that the scheme operated by Ismahanum and her company was illegal as they received deposits from the public without licence from Bank Negara.As for the Amla case, investigation was done on the company and Ismahanum after its premises in Kota Kinabalu was raided.Further investigation showed more than 520 investors from Kota Kinabalu and the peninsula had entered into the scheme and the transactions were made through multiple cheques issued from the company and Ismahanum.Also charged together with Ismahanum was her brother Ismahanif and its company branch manager Yong Thain Vun, 34, who claimed trial to the charge. Ismahanif is accused of having a Honda Civic car and is facing 59 counts of possessing money obtained through illegal activities.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
Meanwhile, Yong is accused of abetting Ismahanum to receive the deposits between Nov 6, 2010 and April 23, 2012 at No 11B, 11th floor in Wisma Fok Loi, here.Counsel Chin Tek Ming defended Yong.