Chinese national with RM10m investment laments unjustified detention

A Chinese national with an RM10 million investment in Malaysia who has spent more than 30 days at the Lenggeng detention depot in Negeri Sembilan has yet to receive any communication justifying his custody.

Lawyer CR Selva said his client was depressed from not being able to speak to his wife and children with whom he had daily video calls before his arrest.

Selva reported his client as saying “look at what Malaysia has done to me”.

Selva said he had not received any communication which explained the grounds for the arrest of his client from neither the investigating officer nor the deputy public prosecutor.

He told Malaysiakini that the deputy public prosecutor had attempted to request an extension of two weeks during the case management that was held at the Shah Alam High Court on May 18.

Following the arrest and detention of his client, Selva had filed for him to be released through a habeas corpus proceeding.

Objecting to the request for an extension of time, Selva said the respondent, which was the Immigration Department, had disrespected the court process by failing to respond to his affidavit within two weeks.

The court hearing has been set for May 31.

On April 30, Malaysiakini reported Selva’s claims that his client who operates a high-quality slab factory in Senawang was “tricked” into going to the Immigration Department’s Seremban office, unaware of what was planned for him.

Instead of having his special pass converted to one that reflected that his client was “making arrangements to leave the country”, Selva described how his client was shocked to be arrested with no valid explanation.

The investor had run into a spate of bad experiences starting in 2019 when he was first arrested for allegedly employing undocumented workers and flouting his social pass conditions.

Selva said the 40-year-old father of two children aged four and six was acquitted of all his charges on April 12 this year, was refunded his bail money and his passport was returned to him.

Forced to remain in Malaysia for the two-year duration of his trial which was further delayed by restrictions placed on court proceedings owing to Covid-19 preventive measures set by the government, Selva said his client was now determined to uproot his factory here.

Immigration not responding

It was also reported that Selva had sent a letter to the immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud requesting an explanation of the grounds for arrest.

Selva’s update on that was that he has yet to receive any reply even after 30 days.

Selva said the case had even attracted the attention of the country’s special envoy to China as well.

He said following the recent arrest, the special envoy of the prime minister to China, Tiong King Sing had also written to Khairul Dzaimee on May 5, urging for the release of the detainee, but to no avail.

“The immigration DG has not responded to the letter from the special envoy,” said Selva.

In his letter sighted by Malaysiakini, Tiong had described how the detainee had been cleared of all his previous charges and had always cooperated with the authorities whenever they wanted him to attend their offices.

Tiong had urged Khairul Dzaimee to discharge and acquit the detainee from China as he had never been absent from his previous hearings and had pledged to be present to hear the prosecution's appeal.

Tiong, who is also Bintulu MP and chairperson of the Malaysia-China Business Council could not be reached for his statement on this matter.

At the time of publishing, Khairul Dzaimee could not be reached for comments on why the Chinese investor was detained. - Mkini