https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2024/09/1109630/datuk-ordered-enter-defence-rm855mil-fraud-money-laundering

KUALA LUMPUR: A former finance company consultant was ordered to enter his defence over a charge of cheating the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) of RM85.5 million and of money laundering.

Sessions Court judge Suzana Hussain ordered Datuk Ahmad Azwan Aboo Mansor, 54, to do so after ruling that the prosecution had established a prime facie case against him, reported an online portal today.

She set three days from Nov 13 to hear the defence.

Azwan was charged with 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 cent 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).

He allegedly committed the offence at MyIPO, Tower B, Menara UOA in Bangsar on Nov 25, 2015.

He also has an alternative charge under Section 486 of the same 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 is also facing four charges under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 involving RM3.9 million.

The alleged offences were committed at Bank Islam's Taman Melawati branch between January 2016 and December 2017.

Deputy public prosecutors Afif Ali, Haresh Prakash Somiah and Rozalina Zakaria prosecuted while lawyer Harjinder Singh Sandhu represented Azwan.