BUKIT MERTAJAM: A company director was charged in the Magistrate’s Court here today with cheating a businessman in connection with a RM1.5 million loan agreement in 2019.
Pon Chee Weng, 65, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read out to him in Mandarin before Magistrate Sharifah Razali.
According to the charge, Pon allegedly deceived a 45-year-old businessman into signing a loan agreement stating that he had lent the complainant RM1.5 million, despite knowing that the money had never been disbursed.
The act allegedly led the complainant to believe that the loan had been granted, exposing him to repayment obligations under the agreement and resulting in financial loss.
The charge, framed under Section 420 of the Penal Code, carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, whipping and a fine upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Zulfadli Hassan proposed bail of RM20,000, while defence counsel Muhammad Hasanuddin Mohd Yusoff appealed for a lower amount, saying his client was not a flight risk and would not abscond.
The court allowed bail of RM18,000, with the additional condition that the accused report to a police station every two months.