Michael Chia sentenced to jail, caning for cheating

Businessman Michael Chia, who made headlines two years ago after he was caught with RM40 million in Hong Kong which he had claimed was for UMNO, was today sentenced to a year's jail and ordered caned for a RM2.5 million attempted cheating case 10 years ago.

The Star online reported that the Sandakan Sessions Court judge Elsie Primus, when delivering the sentence today, said that Chia was found guilty of attempted cheating in a deal over a timber operation.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission was represented by Deputy Public Prosecutor Joyce Blasius.

The court, however, allowed an application by Chia's lawyer Rowiena Rashid to defer the sentence while he files an appeal at the High Court, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said in a statement today.

Chia was charged with attempting to cheat Dato' Agus Hassan of Syarikat Pelumas Sdn Bhd on June 2004 into believing that there were three requirements that were needed for the approval for a timber operation at the Kalabakan Forest Reserve in Sabah.

The three alleged requirements included RM3 million to a political fund belonging to Umno sabah and a RM25 per cubic metre commission for each metre of timber produced by Syarikat Pelumas Sdn Bhd at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve.

Chia had earned notoriety two years ago when he was linked to Sabah Umno chief Datuk Musa Aman over corruption and money-laundering allegations in a case involving Sabah timber.

Musa’s alleged link with Chia first exploded in the media following an article in the whistleblower site Sarawak Report, which claimed he was caught trying to leave the Hong Kong International Airport with RM40 million in Singapore currency.

At the time, Chia had allegedly told the authorities that the money was meant for Musa, kicking off a probe on a series of funds transfers from Malaysia to Hong Kong that was then believed to be the possible laundering of money generated from illegal logging activities in Sabah.

Subsequently, the de facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said Musa’s name was cleared after Malaysian and Hong Kong anti-graft authorities found that the money was a “political donation” to Sabah Umno and was not meant for Musa’s personal use. - February 26, 2014.


Source :  http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/michael-chia-sentenced-to-jail-caning-for-cheating