Muhammad Faizal Sudin, 39, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read out to him before judge S. Indra Nehru.

He allegedly misappropriated RM18,180,451.97 that had been entrusted to him by Mardec Processing Sdn Bhd at the Mardec Rubber Factory in Bota Kanan, about 50km from here between August 2011 and October 2012.

The charge under Section 409 of the Penal Code provides for a jail sentence of between two and 20 years, with caning and fine, upon conviction.

The accused was represented by counsel Saiful Ambar Abdullah Ambar, while the prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutors Rullizah Abdul Majid and Nurshuhaida Zainal Azahar from the Commercial and Cyber Crimes Unit in the
Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Earlier, Rullizah proposed that bail of RM1 million be imposed as well as an additional condition that the accused be required to surrender his passport to the court as the offence committed was serious.

In mitigation, Saiful Ambar appealed to the court to reduce the bail as the accused was now self employed without a fixed income to support his wife and two children.

Counsel also said the accused had given full cooperation to the police throughout the investigation.

The court set RM400,000 as bail with two sureties, and ordered the accused to surrender his passport as well as report once a month to the police station nearest to the address on his identity card.

The court fixed Nov 25 for a re-mention of the case.