According to the daily, sources revealed that a “charity event” organised by Chinese national Zhang Jian’s company, YSLM, which stands for “Yun Shu Mao”, was held at a hotel in Selangor on Dec 29.

The event also featured posters similar to the huge signboards with Zhang’s image that were hung in Penang in 2014.

The local vernacular daily reported that the event was attended by hundreds of Chinese nationals and that 150 cars had been presented as gifts, or incentives, to YSLM members.

Neither the name of the hotel nor Zhang’s exact whereabouts were disclosed, however. He was last reported to be in Thailand.

YSLM first came to prominence in 2014 amid controversy over allegations that the company could very well have been duping people out of money via its pyramid and “get-rich-quick” schemes.

In 2014, the domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism ministry claimed YSLM was a direct sales company that was not registered with the companies commission of Malaysia (SSM) and operated without a ministry licence.

Zhang was also reportedly arrested in Thailand in late 2014 for allegedly scamming RM605 million from thousands in China, Malaysia and Thailand.