SELAYANG – Businessman Datuk Ken and his wife pleaded not guilty and claimed trial on four counts of charges for turning their house in Rawang into an open gambling den.
The accused, Liow Lian Keong, 40, and his wife Chen Lye Kuen, 41, merely nodded in understanding and shook their head, pleading not guilty on all charges read before them before Magistrate Nik Mohd Fadli Nik Azlan.
Lian Keong was charged on three counts of using his house in Bandar Country Homes, Rawang as a common gaming house between 5.15pm until 6.15pm on 6 July.
Meanwhile, Lye Kuan was charged for using her house in Bandar Country Homes, Rawang as a common gaming house at 5.30 pm on the same date.
According to the charge papers, the offences were committed under Section 4(1)(A) of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 (Amendment 2001) that carries a maximum jail sentence of three years and fine not exceeding RM50,000. They are also liable to the same amount of fine for each gambling machine seized, upon conviction.
The court allowed the two accused to be bailed at RM7,000 for each charge and fixed 20 December for the mention of case and submission of documents.
The prosecution was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Wan Nur Iman Wan Ahmad Afzal, meanwhile, the accused were represented by Muhammad Nor Izzat Nordin, Thomas Chin S W and Matthews.
The couple was nabbed last month after an online gambling, unlicensed money lender and bitcoin mining syndicate was toppled with total confiscation valued at RM33 million.
The arrest was made on 11 August during a raid by the Selangor Criminal Investigation Department on four houses at Country Homes, Rawang in July.
Earlier, the Selangor District Police Chief, Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed revealed that the confiscation involved 14 luxury vehicles, 14 houses, three shop lots, cash and froze 71 bank accounts.
Besides that, nine laptops and 15 mobile phones were also seized. 13 individuals aged between 17 and 40 working for the syndicate were also arrested for further action.
The syndicate offers unlicensed money lending for their close contacts and business owners by imposing a monthly interest rate of 8 to 10 percent.
The syndicate was also detected to conduct bitcoin mining through illegal electric wiring to their premises and caused losses to amounting millions of Ringgit per month to Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).
It also uses houses or offices to place their workers to manage online gambling.
The syndicate uses social media platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook to promote their online gambling. They are also believed to have used bank account mules for their payment transactions.
Police investigation also found that the syndicate may have used 24 companies to mask their activities and illegal proceeds from being detected by the authorities. -MalaysiaGazette
