GEORGE TOWN, Jun 20 –  The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry enforcement unit announced today the arrest of the MBI Group founder in a sting yesterday. Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) enforcement chief Datuk Mohd Roslan Mahayudin said the man, in his 50s, was arrested on 6.30am yesterday at a house in Taman MBI Desaku in Kulim, Kedah. He is under remand for four days until June 22.

“The man has been remanded for four days from yesterday for investigations under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.  Operations were conducted at about 6.30am yesterday at three premises believed to be involved in the pyramid scheme Mfc Club or Mface Club under the Group,” he told a press conference at the Bank Negara Malaysia office in Light Street on Tuesday.

The operation, dubbed as Ops Token II, is a joint operation between the KPDNKK, the National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Bank Negara Malaysia and police. He said during the operations, they seized RM280,000 cash from the first premise in Butterworth in Penang,

He also said that they had also seized another RM187,612 in the second premise in Taman MBI Desaku in Kulim, Kedah and also RM218,000 worth of foreign currencies consisting of Singapore dollars, US dollars, Thai Baht, Australian dollars, Yuan, New Zealand dollars, Indonesian rupiah, Korean won, Japanese Yen, Hong Kong dollars, Taiwan dollars, Laos Lam and Cambodia Riel.

In the second premise, three luxury cars; a Jaguar worth RM350,000, a Range Rover worth RM900,000 and a Vellfire worth RM300,000, were also seized. He said nothing was seized from the third premise raided, also in Taman MBI Desaku in Kulim. Four bank accounts, with RM30 million, belonging to the suspect’s relative under the Mface Club scheme were also frozen during this operation.

Mohd Roslan said as at today, a total 98 local bank accounts with a total RM209 million have been frozen. He said out of the 98 accounts, 49 are individual accounts while 49 are company accounts. On May 31, a total of RM177mil in 91 bank accounts was frozen following raids on several locations linked to MBI International. A multi-agency team raided the M Square logistics centre in Kuala Lumpur and M Mall, a shopping complex in Penang where shoppers use loyalty reward points in exchange for goods.

Dubbed Ops Token, the raids were conducted under the Direct Selling and Anti-Pyramid Scheme Act 1993 and led by officers from the ministry, police, Companies Commission of Malaysia, CyberSecurity Malaysia and Bank Negara. The raids came after the ministry received complaints from the public. It was reported that Mface International and MBI International Sdn Bhd, which are subsidiaries of MBI Group, has been listed in Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) alert list with effect on May 22. 

In additional, he also added that the MBI Group’s other subsidiary companies, about 20 of it, will also be investigated. When asked why everything had appeared normal in M Mall in Penang where business is as usual, Mohd Roslan said the mall is still allowed to continue operating their business as usual. He also advised the public and businesses against joining the illegal money scheme. So far, he said there were no “investors” of the scheme had lodged reports against MBI Group or its subsidiaries. — PN

Pocket News

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.