The High Court here has issued arrest warrants against 41 Chinese nationals after they failed to appear in court for proceedings related to an alleged online scam syndicate case.
The warrants were issued by Judicial Commissioner Steve Ritikos after only 39 out of the 80 accused individuals attended Monday’s hearing involving a review of their bail conditions.
All of the accused were previously charged under Section 102B of the Penal Code for alleged involvement in a criminal conspiracy linked to online fraud activities.
The 41 accused had already failed to attend an earlier court mention on April 21 and remained absent again during the latest proceedings.
Authorities believe some of them may have fled or returned to China, while their bail guarantors also failed to appear before the court to provide explanations.
Following their absence, the court ordered not only the issuance of arrest warrants but also the cancellation and forfeiture of their bail money to the Malaysian government.
Earlier on April 21, the same High Court tightened bail conditions for all 80 accused individuals by ordering their passports to be surrendered and requiring them to report regularly to the police.
The stricter conditions came after the prosecution applied for a review of the Magistrate’s Court decision that initially allowed all suspects to be released on bail, taking into account that the offences were bailable.
Of the accused, 78 were identified as Chinese nationals, including four women, while the remaining two individuals were from Myanmar and Laos respectively.
In a related development, the Magistrate’s Court also issued separate arrest warrants against all accused persons who failed to attend the latest mention and pre-trial case management proceedings.
Magistrate Dayang Aidaku Amira Aminuddin later fixed October 12 to 16 for the full trial of the case.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nur Nisla Abd Latif informed the court that prosecution documents had already been handed over to lawyers representing 10 of the accused.
The suspects were charged under Section 120B(2) of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 for criminal conspiracy offences.
She added that the remaining accused who have yet to appoint legal representation will receive the documents on June 29.
