KUALA LUMPUR – A man with the Datuk title was today charged at the sessions court here with 16 counts of money laundering, involving more than RM8 million in proceeds from unlawful activities.
Datuk Ahmad Azwan Aboo Mansoor, 51, pleaded not guilty to all the charges before judge Hasbullah Adam.
On the first to the seventh counts, he allegedly disposed of RM815,863.06 in ill-gotten gains from his savings account at Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd’s Taman Melawati branch here between April 2016 and April 2018.
He also faces five charges in relation to the transfer of RM3,020,299.98 in proceeds from unlawful activities from his bank account to another of his accounts, as well as two other accounts – one belonging to another man and the other, a company – at the same place between June 11, 2016 and December 20, 2017.
The next four counts see him charged with receiving RM4,180,396.59 in ill-gotten gains deposited into his savings accounts at Bank Islam’s Taman Melawati branch and Maybank’s Taman Setiawangsa branch between December 10, 2016 and March 9, 2018.
All the charges are under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act, which provides for imprisonment of up to 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the amount of the ill-gotten gains, or RM5 million, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Azwan was allowed bail at RM50,000 with one surety for all the charges, and the court set April 22 for mention.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Rohaiza Zainal, while lawyer Harjinder Singh represented the accused. – Bernama, March 19, 2021
