JOHOR BAHRU, June 30 -- A salesman pleaded not guilty at the Magistrate’s Court, here today on five charges of fraud involving losses worth RM1.152 million, between June last year and Feb 18 this year.
Lau Kah Wing, 24, made the plea after the five charges were read out to him before Magistrate Mohd Zaki Abd Rahman.
On the first charge, Lau, with another individual still at large, was accused of cheating a woman by duping her into handing over RM160,000 and making her believe that she could double the amount, where she would not have given them the money if she was not led to believe as such.
While on the second to fifth charges, Lau was accused of duping four women into giving him cash between RM200,000 and RM374,000 by making them believe that he could double the amount of money and award them with petrol fuelling bonus, where the women would not have handed the money if they were not led to believe as such.
All the charges were allegedly committed in five separate locations in the city between June 24, 2019 and Feb 18, 2020.
On the first charge, Lau was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same law, while for second to fifth, he was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code. The offences carry a penalty of imprisonment of not less than one year and not exceeding 10 years, with whipping.
Meanwhile, at the same court, Lau and an employed man, Kuang Jian Ming, 23, pleaded not guilty on one count of attempting to cheat a man by making him believe that they could double the return if he handed over an amount of money to them, in which the victim had almost handed the money and would not have done so if he was not led to believe that.
The offence was allegedly committed by both the accused at a hypermarket in Plentong, here, at about 12 noon on June 18.
They were accused under Section 420/511 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code, which carries a penalty of imprisonment of not less than one year and not exceeding 10 years, with whipping.
The prosecution was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutr Chan Choon Yew. Lau was represented by lawyer Muhammad Syazwan Mohd Salleh while Kuang by lawyer Goh Sze Han.
Mohd Zaki allowed both the accused bail at RM4,500 with one surety for each charge and set August 10 for case remention and handing over of documents.
-- BERNAMA
