Trio charged with duping man out of RM192,000 in work permit scam

JOHOR BARU: Three men were charged at the Magistrate’s Court here on Thursday (Sept 8) for duping another individual out of RM192,000 by offering foreign worker permit services.

Project consultant Tan Teck Loke, 41, drinks seller Shah Effendy Wahyu, 40, and sundry shop owner S. Sellathurai, 59, pleaded not guilty to the charge that was read together before Magistrate Mohd Zulhilmi Ibrahim on Thursday.

Together, the three men allegedly committed a white-collar crime by cheating one Lim Zhen Peng, 31, into believing that they could manage and produce foreign worker permits.

They claimed that they would be able to help Lim, a businessman, obtain 32 visas and visa with reference (VDR) from the Immigration Department.

The incident was said to have taken place at No. 21, Jalan Nakhoda 16, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Skudai from Aug 7, 2019 until Aug 27, 2019.

The three were accused of duping the victim into paying them RM192,000 in stages into Tan’s bank account for their alleged services.

They were charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail term of up to 10 years and caning, and a possible fine upon conviction.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Danial Munir asked the court to set a bail of RM30,000 for each of the accused.

Lawyers Goh Sze Han, Mohamad Azrulsani Othman and S. Selvam, who respectively represented Tan, Shah Effendy and Sellathurai, separately asked for a lower bail amount, citing the accused’s cooperation with the police throughout the investigation and the need to care for their own families as the reason.

Mohd Zulhilmi set bail at RM6,000 with one surety for each of the three men and fixed Oct 10 for the case mention and submission of documents.