Aman Palestin’s top two officers have been jointly charged with deceiving the company's board of trustees out of RM5.75 million, from RM39.15 million transferred to their own company’s account that acted as agents for purchases of 131kg of gold.
Executive chairperson Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman and CEO Awang Suffian Awang Piut - directors of Syarikat Samudra Champa - both claimed trial to 19 counts of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
Under each charge read before Shah Alam Sessions Court judge Anita Harun, the duo were accused of marking up the real price of gold to be purchased by their own company on behalf of Aman Palestin.
They were accused of committing the offences at Aman Palestin’s office between Sept 24, 2021 and July 14 last year.
In the same court, the duo also faced 19 individual charges each for money laundering and another 52 charges each for CBT.
'Purchase of shop lots, land, houses’
The money laundering charges involve the duo’s role in the purchases of multi-million ringgit worth of properties, several plots of land and a Toyota Vellfire for their own company, using funds from illicit activities.
Meanwhile, another Syarikat Samudra Champa director, Khairudin Mohd Ali, was also charged in the same courtroom with three counts of money laundering involving purchases of a two-storey shop lot in Johor; a three-storey shoplot in Sabah and a semi-detached factory in Bangi.
They face a maximum 15-year prison sentence and a fine not less than five times the amount of illicit funds, or RM5 million, whichever is greater.
After the charges were read, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib said both parties had agreed to maintain an earlier RM1 million bail amount granted for Abdullah and Awang, while a separate amount of RM200,000 was granted for Khairudin.
These charges formed part of a total of 164 counts of CBT, cheating and money laundering involving Aman Palestin funds heard by the court today.
All three are required to pay half the amount as deposit today and the remaining before the next trial date set on March 14.
Last November, MACC had frozen accounts belonging to Aman Palestin Bhd and several other companies, involving funds of more than RM15.8 million.
On Jan 31, Aman Palestin filed a legal challenge against MACC’s freezing order, and the Attorney-General’s Chambers later said it would file an objection against the application.
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