Over 30 Chinese nationals charged with operating investment scam in Port Dickson

Thirty-six Chinese nationals have been jointly charged at the Magistrates Court here for allegedly conspiring to cheat their fellow countrymen through non-existent investment schemes.

The accused, aged between 22 and 39, were brought before Magistrate Mohd Farez Rahman on Tuesday (Sept 2). No plea was recorded as they were unable to understand Bahasa Malaysia. Five of those charged are women.

According to the charge, the group is accused of operating an online call centre from a house in Taman Tanjung, near here, to scam Chinese nationals into investing in bogus schemes. The offence was allegedly committed at around 3.30pm on Aug 21.

They are charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 120B(2), which covers criminal conspiracy. If found guilty, they face a jail term of up to six months, a fine, or both.

Lawyer Chang Kai Ping, representing the accused, applied for bail, arguing that his clients had already been held in police custody for 13 days.

However, deputy public prosecutor Azriff Firdaus Mohamad Ali objected, saying the accused posed a flight risk. He told the court that checks with the Immigration Department showed that the accused either had expired travel passes or none at all. He added that the authorities had also received a letter from the Chinese embassy stating that the accuseds travel documents had been revoked due to offences committed in their home country.

Azriff further pointed out that the accused had failed to provide any documents to explain what they were doing in Malaysia, nor could they give the court the address of any relatives or local contacts.

In delivering his decision, Magistrate Mohd Farez said that for a foreigner to be granted bail, several conditions must be met, including having valid travel documents, a local address and two local sureties.

“Since none of these conditions have been fulfilled, bail is denied,” he said, adding that the accused were clearly a flight risk.

The court fixed Sept 12 for mention and to arrange for a Mandarin interpreter.

During the raid on Aug 21, police also seized 94 mobile phones, 36 laptops and other related items, with the total value estimated at around RM220,000.