KUALA LUMPUR: The sessions court here has ordered a former finance company consultant to enter his defence to a charge of cheating the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) of RM85.5 million and four counts of money laundering charges.
Trial judge Suzana Hussain said the prosecution had established a prima facie case against Ahmad Azwan Aboo Mansor, 54.
Azwan is accused of cheating MyIPO by deceiving a senior officer into investing in a scheme called BIMB i-Fund (Money Market Instrument/Fixed Deposit), which promised a return of 6% per annum, when the scheme was a unit trust investment called BIMB i-Dividend Fund.
He was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code with fraudulently inducing MyIPO to invest RM85.5 million into the BIMB account, registered in the name of BIMB Investment Management Bhd (iDividend).
The offence was alleged to have been committed at the Ixora meeting room at MyIPO at Tower B, Menara UOA, Bangsar, on Nov 25, 2015.
Azwan also faces an alternative charge under Section 486 of the Penal Code for forging a presentation paper titled BIMB i-Fund (Money Market Instrument/Fixed Deposit), with the intention of using the falsified document to deceive, resulting in a loss of RM85.5 million.
Azwan, who carries a Datuk title, is facing another four charges under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
The four charges involving RM3.9 million were alleged to have been committed at Bank Islam’s Taman Melawati branch between January 2016 and December 2017.
Suzana has fixed three days from Nov 13 to allow the defence to begin its case.
Deputy public prosecutors Afif Ali, Haresh Prakash Somiah and Rozalina Zakaria appeared for the prosecution while Harjinder Singh Sandhu represented Azwan.
