Written by: Averroes
(1.0) Introduction
(1.1) Rise of Nicky
The days and glory of Nicky Liow Soon Hee, 34 (Nicky) is evident through lavish parties for his birthday, an array of luxury cars with his entourage that he posts on Instagram. He even flexes monies he accumulated. The luxury cars he has would include 28 Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce as well as another RM85 million in cash in different bank accounts.
With a strong presence, he has connections spanning all the way to convicted Hong Kong triad boss, Wan Kuok Koi (Broken Tooth). He made investments, especially cryptocurrencies and with companies listed on Bank Negara's alert list of unlicensed activities, including money-laundering.
He would later boast about his returns and dividends. His company, Winner Dynasty Group Sdn Bhd incorporated in 2020 did not even provide any audited financial results, no details of auditor, balance sheets, income statements of revenue, profit or loss.
Because of the amount of wealth he has garnered and his affiliations, this caught the attention of the authorities which question his ability to make such grandiose income. Many ask to why he would want to show off his wealth on social media and not expect to get attention.
The red flag was that, he was able to supply large number of face masks during the MCO 2020 with Ministers accepting them, inadvertently not knowing the masks were purchased from proceeds of unlawful activities. Well could be, potentially...
Though, his lawyer Rajpal said that he has a old behaviour of flexing his riches and that he was never involved in an organised crime group or Macau scam. Perhaps, other say that it is not wrong to display our wealth, as it is a sign that we have made it this far in life.
(1.2) Nicky's story
In the past, Nicky was an average student from SMK Bandar Baru Ampang and he came back as an adult to donate RM600,000. These includes TVs, electronic devices, air-conditioners and pledge to renovate the school hall.
This was a way for him to repay the debts of his school's contribution to his life. After finishing Form 6, he said that he came from a poor family and the eldest among four siblings.
Therefore, he had to take care of the family by being the breadwinner, find odd jobs and work 10 times harder than others, due to his mediocre academic achievements. This might have motivated and propelled him to become someone rich and successful, but might have strayed down a different path.
As of now, we are unsure yet as whether Nicky did commit those acts of treachery as our courts have not decided yet, but we would have to wait and see.
(1.3) Fall of Nicky
Nicky has been a fugitive for almost a year and now, he is charged of committing 26 counts of money laundering, exceeding RM36 million. He was charged in absentia.
The father of two is believed to have been the head of a criminal group, known as the Nicky Gang who finally surrendered voluntarily to the police, in assurance that he would not be detained under SOSMA 2012.
From the police charge sheets, it states that Nicky is a company director who practices money laundering and possesses monies which are proceeds from unlawful activities, committed areas in the Klang Valley between 2016-2021.
He founded the Winner Dynasty Group and subsequently being pursued by the police after 68 of the members were arrested in Op Pelican 3.0 in March last year, due to a Macau Scam syndicate under their operation.
The charges were framed under section 4(1)(a) and 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA). If convicted, he may be sentenced to jail not exceeding 15 years, fine give times the sum obtained or RM5 million, whichever is higher upon conviction.
He paid RM1 million bail, with half on the day of charge and another half deposited tomorrow. Sessions Court judge, Helina Sulaiman made the ruling after Nicky pleaded not guilty to all the charges. As a result, his Darjah Kebesaran Darjah Sri Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang with Datuk Seri title was revoked.
(2.0) Legal Analysis
To see how do we prosecute and convict Nicky, we could view a case laws to observe how our courts employ in fact-finding, evidence and securing a verdict for the accused.
In Hamimah bt Idruss v Public Prosecutor [2020] 5 MLJU 161, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of the appellant. The facts were that the appellant and her husband founded a pharmaceutical company known as Safire Sdn Bhd.
Facts:
To expand their business, they took a loan of RM35 million from Bumiputra Commercial Bank, but later their business became unsuccessful, resulting in debt of RM51 million. Despite Danaharta to supervise them and given a two year moratorium to pay the debts, their situation did not improve.
To survive and solve their problems, they meet Hendry Toon who said that money can be made from foreign financial services institutions, particularly Siemens Financial Services Ltd. In order to get the money, they had to make guaranteed promissory note.
The appellant ordered her marketing manager in Safire to forge the said promissory notes to receive the money. The money then would go to Hendry Toon and the appellant through a Hong Kong company and then six accounts of Hendry Toon and then the appellant's company bank account, her personal bank account and her daughter.
In order to forge, they made ten promissory notes issued by Safire, Pharmaniaga, the Ministry of Health and Chief Operating Officer of Pharmaniaga's signature to get the money. The ten promissory notes were fake.
Therefore, the monies were the subject matter of eight money laundering charges and ten charges for abetting forgery of documents for the purpose of cheating, both under sections 109 and 468 of the Penal Code, which are serious offence under section 3 of AMLA. She was sentenced to eight years in jail for each of the money-laundering charges.
Held:
Court found that the element of intention was fulfilled, since the appellant never intended to return the large sum of USD$12 million sourced, she was committing forgery for the purpose of cheating. Also, issuing invoices to attain the money via forged promissory notes shows intention as well.
The monies procured from forgery and cheating constituted part of unlawful proceeds from unlawful activity.
To establish money-laundering, the appellant must knowingly received any part of the proceeds of unlawful activity. It does not matter if the appellant controlled the bank accounts, since they were not part of the legal elements.
The appellant did use the monies since she paid the debts of Safire. Also, there was no need to call foreign witnesses, when local bank officers testify that the money came from Hong Kong to Malaysia and finally into the account of Hendry Toon and the appellant.
In addition was a pecuniary penalty of around RM6 million as applied by the prosecution under section 55(2) of the AMLA, since the remaining proceeds of unlawful activity were not traced or recovered.
(3.0) Conclusion
To conclude, since Nicky might have been involved with the Macau Scam, the usual charge under this offence is section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. Cheating is considered as a serious offence and part of unlawful activity under AMLA.
Therefore, if Nicky were to receive or use proceeds from unlawful activity to buy those luxury cars and throw the exuberant parties, he may have committed money-laundering. In simple words, Nicky used money that he scammed from people and bathe in a tub of cash.
(4.0) References;
Rahmat Khairulrijal (April, 2022) Nicky Liow charged with 26 counts of money laundering involving RM31 million [NSTTV]. Retrieved from, https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2022/04/787962/nicky-liow-charged-26-counts-money-laundering-involving-rm31
TheStraitsTimes (April, 2022) Nicky Liow, one of Malaysia's most wanted men who is linked to scam syndicate, surrenders to police. Retrieved from, https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/one-of-malaysias-most-wanted-men-nicky-liow-surrenders-to-police
Faisal Asyrag (April, 2022) Nicky Liow never part of any gang, says lawyer. Retrieved from, https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/04/12/nicky-liow-never-part-of-any-gang-says-lawyer/
Wai, C. (April, 2021) Unmasking fugitive Nicky Liow. Retrieved from, https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/04/13/unmasking-fugitive-nicky-liow
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