Consultant Dato Joseph Kow Charged For Abetting Genneva Malaysia Into Accepting Deposits From Public Ammounting to RM5.5Billion

Genneva: Consultant Joseph Kow charged with abetting

KUALA LUMPUR: Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd consultant Datuk Joseph Kow Hock Beng was charged in a Sessions Court here on two counts of abetting Genneva Malaysia into accepting deposits from the public amounting to RM5.5bil two years ago.

Kow was accused of accepting the deposit from the public via two CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad current accounts without valid license under Subsection 6(4) of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 (Act 372) through a scheme involving gold transaction.

The offence for accepting the deposits without valid license was committed as a result of his abetment.
Kow allegedly committed the offences at Jalan Kuchai Maju 6, Off Jalan Kuchai Lama here between Jan 10, 2011 and Oct 1, 2012.

He was charged under Section 112(1)(c) of the same act read together with Section 25(1) also of the same act.

Kow, 55, later claimed trial to the charges before Judge Mat Ghani Abdullah after the charge was read to him on Tuesday.

Bank Negara Malaysia deputy public prosecutor Fahmi Abdul Moin submitted that they would not offer bail as it was a non-bailable offence.

However, he said, if the court wanted to offer bail, he suggested that the bail be set at RM1mil.
Fahmi also applied for the cases in Kuala Lumpur and Penang be jointly tried here.

In asking for a lower bail, Kow's lawyer Datuk Ghazi Ishak said Kow's assets had been frozen and he also suffered from heart problems.

Ghazi said he hoped that the court would offer RM50,000 bail.

Judge Mat Ghani then granted bail at RM200,000 in one surety and ordered him to surrender his passport.

Judge Mat Ghani later fixed Nov 27 for case management and set from Apr 7 to 24 for the trial.

He also granted the prosecution's application for the cases in Kuala Lumpur and Penang to be jointly heard here.

On Oct 30, Kow and his wife Veronica Tan, 51, also claimed trial in a Sessions Court in Georgetown to 81 counts of money laundering involving more than RM15mil in cash, cheques and gold bars from March 2011 to Dec 12, 2012.