PUTRAJAYA: The attempt by four former directors of gold investment firm Genneva Sdn Bhd (GSB) to stay their jail sentences for receiving unlicensed deposits involving transactions worth more than RM200 million, has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
In also dismissing their application for bail, Justice Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who headed the three-man bench read the unanimous decision, stating that all four men did not have special circumstances to be given a stay of execution, pending a review hearing against the sentence and bail.
Other members of the bench were Justice Datuk Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid and Justice Datuk Zaleha Yusof.
The former directors, Ng Poh Weng, 67, Datuk Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 65, Chin Wai Leong, 41, and Liew Chee Wah, 63, had applied to the appellate court to release them on bail and grant a stay of execution pending disposal of their review.
On Feb 21, the Court of Appeal convicted them on 154 charges of money laundering and four counts of receiving unlicensed deposits and sentenced them to eight years jail and a fine of RM1 million each.
The four were ordered to serve the sentences consecutively from the day after their oral application for a stay of their sentences was denied by the court.
The Court of Appeal bench comprising Datuk Wira Mohtarudin Baki, Datuk Zakaria Sam and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil also convicted GSB on five counts of receiving deposits from the public without a licence, handing them a fine of RM2 million.
The court also sentenced the four to five years in jail and a fine of RM1 million in default one year's jail for charges of receiving non-licensed deposits, and another three years imprisonment for money-laundering.
On May 16, 2013, the Kuala Lumpur sessions court freed the four and the High Court upheld the decision on Sept 20, 2016.
They allegedly committed the money laundering offences at Menara Public Bank, 146, Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur between July 2008 and June 2009, and the illegal deposit-taking offences at the company's premises in Jalan Kuchai Maju 6, Kuala Lumpur, between November 2008 and July 2009.
In the proceedings today, lawyer Datuk Harpal Singh Grewal and Tan Sri Dr Muhammad Shafee Abdullah represented Ng, Yee and Chin while lawyer Keppy Wong acted for Liew.