KUALA LUMPUR: Two siblings, who are directors of the property company Aston Villa Sdn Bhd, and another man have been charged with cheating a contractor of RM5.5 million.
The trio, Kumara Indran, 53, Sumathi Indran, 49 and Remyrizal @ Wellen Remy Rizal, 43, pleaded not guilty before Sessions Court judge Hamidah Mohamed Deril.
They were accused of cheating a contractor into handing over RM5.5 million as an advance to help MZMA Construction Sdn Bhd obtain a project to build an apartment in Kampung Sungai Penchala.
Kumara, Sumathi and Remyrizal had also mortgaged Aston Villa Sdn Bhd's land in the city to the contractor in the event the Kampung Sungai Penchala project failed to take off.
This was despite knowing that the land had already been mortgaged to MBSB Bank in 2013.
According to the charge sheet, the trio had fraudulently misused RM987,084.17 of MZMA Construction's money which had been transferred to Sumathi, Remyrizal and Aston Villa Sdn Bhd's accounts for personal use.
They were charged with Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, read together with Section 34 of the same code for a criminal act by several persons with common intention.
They can be jailed for up to 10 years, caned and fined if found guilty.
Deputy public prosecutor Amalina Jaafar prosecuted while the accused were represented by Muhammad Faris Abrar Othman, Dhiyaulhaq Mohd Arifin and M. Manoharan.
Hamidah set bail at RM20,000 for each accused and set August 19 for mention.