PETALING JAYA: A 34-year-old company director was today charged with three counts of accepting deposits without license, totalling more than RM16 million over the past four years.
Kok Chee Boon pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him before judge Mohammed Mokhzani Mokhtar at the sessions court here.
For the first charge, the accused is alleged to have pocketed RM15,163,200 from the public at the Sunway Damansara Technology Park between April and December 2014.
For the second charge, Kok allegedly accepted RM998,000 from the public at Damansara The Place, Damansara Utama, between August and November 2014.
For the third offence, he is alleged to have accepted RM48,400 at UOB Kota Damansara between January and November 2015.
The offences fall under Section 137(1) of the Financial Services Act 2013 and are punishable under Section 137(2) of the same Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, or a RM50 million fine upon conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Syafiq Hashim asked that no bail be offered to the accused as the offence is a non-bailable one.
"However, if the court wants to (set) bail, it should be no less than RM1.6 million," he said.
Kok’s lawyer, Al Firdaus Shahrul Naing, pleaded for a minimum bail.
He said his client does not have access to his bank accounts which were frozen as part of the investigation.
The court set bail at RM1 million with two sureties and fixed Aug 21 for mention.