By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Dec 10: Three individuals charged in connection with a series of non-existent investment schemes involving a total reported losses of up to RM11 million are granted bail by the Sessions Court in Kuching.
The trio appeared before Sessions Court Judge Noorhisham Mohd Jaafar. They were represented by counsels Dato Shankar Ram along with Sidharth Shankar, Ralph Lee, and Voon Lee Shan.
The three pled not guilty to the charge.
Although the current charge before the court involves financial losses amounting to RM16,000, prosecutors informed the court that the total losses suffered by other victims linked to the same alleged schemes are estimated at RM11 million.
All three accused are being investigated, charged and tried together under Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA).
They were jointly charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34.
During the proceedings, the defence applied for bail, proposing RM1 million for each accused with two local sureties, along with conditions for surrendering passports and weekly reporting to the nearest police station.
Defence counsels Shankar and Lee submitted that bail serves only to secure an accused person’s attendance and should not be punitive in nature.
After considering the submissions, the court ruled that each accused be released pending trial on court bail of RM10,000, which is not required to be deposited, with one local surety.
The court further ordered for each to report to the nearest police station on the first day of every month until the disposal of the case and surrender his or her international passport, if any, to the court for the duration of the trial proceedings.
The Court also fixed the Pre-Trial Case Management (PTCM) on Feb 2, 2026, to monitor compliance with the service of documents pursuant to Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). — DayakDaily
