SHAH ALAM: Businessman Nicky Liow Soon Hee has pleaded not guilty to 26 charges of money laundering involving more than RM36mil at the Sessions Court here, a day after the fugitive turned himself in to the police.
Liow, who had managed to evade the authorities for over a year, was slapped with 26 charges under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act.
Out of these, 25 charges were framed under Section 4(1)(a) and one under Section 4(1)(b) of the Act.
The charges were read out to Liow in Mandarin before judge Helina Sulaiman, and he answered: “I understand”, also in Mandarin, when asked if he understood the charges.
Liow, 34, claimed trial to all 26 charges.
Deputy public prosecutors Noor Zalizan Lazarous, Rozaliana Zakaria and Syafinas Shabudin prosecuted while the accused was represented by counsels Datuk Rajpal Singh, Jay Moy Wei Jiun and Mardhiyah Siraj.
Rozaliana requested Liow be denied bail under Section 13 of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), due to the gravity of the alleged offences.
She added that Liow was also a flight risk as he had managed to give Malaysian police and Interpol the slip despite the massive manhunt that had been mounted.
“Various efforts had been initiated to track him down, including listing him in the Interpol’s Red Notice.
“The Red Notice was issued by Interpol effective April 20, 2021, then updated on April 30, 2021, and the accused was on the police wanted list.
“During that period until the accused surrendered, he did not show up at any nearby police station,” said Rozaliana.
She added that if the court granted bail, it should not be less than RM3.6mil.
Defence counsel Rajpal pleaded for a lower bail of RM500,000 or less than a million ringgit with two sureties, noting that Liow had voluntarily surrendered.
Rajpal cited former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s cases, whereby both were given bail amounting to about 1% of the monies involved in their alleged crimes.
Helina set bail at RM1mil, in two payments of RM500,000 each, to be settled by today and ordered Liow to surrender his passport to the court as well as report himself to the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) once every two weeks.
Two of his friends were at hand to settle Liow’s bail.
Helina fixed May 26 for case management.
If found guilty, the father of two faces a maximum jail term of 15 years and a fine not less than five times the amount allegedly involved or RM5mil, whichever is higher.
Liow, who is the founder of Winner Dynasty Group, surrendered at the Bukit Aman CCID in Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, at 11am on Monday.
The former Datuk Seri, dressed in black pants and T-shirt, was brought to court in handcuffs yesterday.
Liow, who is allegedly a Macau scam ringleader, had his Datuk Seri title revoked by the Pahang palace in April last year.