SEAGM executives maintain innocence over US DoJ charges - Vincent Tan
BERNAMA
18/09/2020 07:36 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, September 18 -- The two Malaysian executives charged by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) yesterday for alleged money laundering and cybercrimes in the United States maintain their innocence, Berjaya Corporation (BCorp) executive chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan said today.
Stating that he is a passive investor of Perak-based online game digital trading and services platform, SEA Gamer Mall(SEAGM) Sdn Bhd, of which the two executives are attached to, Tan said both men have appointed Malaysian legal counsel to represent them.
"Neither SEAGM nor the two executives possess the expertise or tools in computer intrusions and hacking. The two SEAGM executives maintain innocence and have appointed legal counsel to represent them," Tan said in a statement today.
Tan’s statement comes a day after International media reported that the DoJ indicted five Chinese nationals and two Malaysians for allegedly mobilising global hacking operations to steal identities, video game technology and plant ransomware.
The two were identified as Wong Ong Hua and Ling Yang Ching.
Both men were arrested on Sept 14 in Perak and are currently being remanded at the Sungai Buloh prison pending extradition to the United States following an application made by its authorities.
In his statement, Tan said he was a passive investor of the company through a private entity.
He also said his daughters, namely Nerine Tan and Chryseis Tan were non-executive directors of SEAGM.
"At all times, my daughters had no involvement whatsoever in SEAGM. Both Nerine and Chryseis had, in fact, resigned before this incident.
"I (also) wish to clarify that the Berjaya Corporation Berhad Group of Companies has no interest whatsoever in SEAGM...My shareholding in SEAGM is entirely my personal investment which I may choose to divest when the time is right," Tan said.
He said as a passive investor, all day-to-day decisions in running the company and the business were left in the hands of the key executives of SEAGM.
Tan added that SEAGM has given assurance that they have stepped up security measures to protect customers’ personal data and will extend its full cooperation to the authorities pertaining to the matter.
-- BERNAMA
