A father and son duo were charged in the Sessions Court here Wednesday with 24 counts each of cheating the Sabah government by not declaring the actual proceeds of gold bar sales in an invoice, which caused a loss of RM1.3 million in royalties.

Lo Fui Ming, 67, and his son Lo Teck Yong, 42, both former directors of a mining company, pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out before judge Jason Juga.

The accused allegedly sold 26 gold bars illegally to a company without declaring it in the invoice presented to the Land and Surveys Department (JTU) for royalty calculations on the sale of gold bars mined and produced at Bukit Mantri, Tawau.

According to the land and mineral mining lease with JTU, the mining company was required to pay a five per cent royalty on the proceeds of sales of gold mined at Bukit Mantri.

They allegedly committed the offence between October 2019 and March this year.

Fui Ming faces 24 charges under Section 418 of the Penal Code, while Teck Yong’s charges are framed under Section 109 of the Penal Code, punishable by up to seven years imprisonment or a fine or both, upon conviction.

Judge Jason allowed both the accused to be bailed at RM100,000 and ordered their passports to be surrendered to the court. He also fixed Dec 8 for the next case mention.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) prosecuting officer Lim Wai Keong appeared for the prosecution, while the accused were represented by lawyer Zahir Shah. – Bernama

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by The Borneo Post

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]