Ex-land broker jailed 5 years in RM2.4mil money laundering case

Ex-land broker jailed 5 years in RM2.4mil money laundering case

Gan Kiat Bend, 64, had been out on bail of RM170,000.

A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Hanipah Farikullah said there was no merit in Gan’s appeal that warranted appellate intervention.

“Based on the totality of the evidence, we are satisfied that the offence of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code has been proven.

“Therefore, the conviction is safe. We now issue a warrant of committal (for Gan to begin his sentence),” Hanipah said.

Sitting with her on the bench were Nordin Hassan and Nazlan Ghazali.

Cheating is a predicate offence listed under the Second Schedule of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act (Amla).

In 2017, the High Court dismissed Gan’s appeal and upheld the jail sentence imposed by a sessions court in 2010.

Gan committed four counts of money laundering involving a total of RM2.4 million at Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad at Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur between Nov 19, 2003 and Jan 9, 2004.

On Dec 23, 2010, then sessions court judge Jagjit Singh sentenced him to five years’ jail and fined him RM1 million on the first count, which he paid.

However, he failed to settle a RM2 million penalty imposed under Amla.

For the second count, he was sentenced to two years’ jail and a RM184,000 fine, while he was jailed six months and imposed a RM10,000 fine for the third offence.

Gan was also jailed two years and imposed a RM240,000 fine for the fourth count.

However, the trial judge ordered the jail terms to run concurrently, meaning he will only spend five years in prison.

He will have to serve another one year and eight months if the RM2.4 million penalty is not settled within the next 12 months.

Deputy public prosecutors Dusuki Mokhtar, Nahra Dollah and Samihah Rhazali prosecuted while Shafee Abdullah represented Gan.

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