Rohaida Yahil, 41, who was clad in black T-shirt and dark blue headscarf, changed her plea to not guilty after all the charges were read to her before Judge Rushan Lutfi Mohamed.
The court was initially scheduled to hear the facts of the case and pass its sentence today, but Rohaida changed her plea after appointing a lawyer.
Earlier, her lawyer Shamsul Sulaiman said Rohaida needed more time to seek legal advice.
“Hitherto, she was sentenced to three years and two months’ jail by the Magistrate’s Court (for swindling RM1.203 million), but the deputy public prosecutor had filed an appeal to have the punishment increased.
“The accused was initially satisfied with the punishment (for swindling charges), but with the appeal, she had to reconsider her plea in this (money laundering) case,” the lawyer said.
The court set May 8 for remention and submission of documents.
On the first count, Rohaida was charged with receiving RM3,400 that was transferred into her CIMB Bank account from a Maybank account belonging to Khuzairiah Abdul Latiff, 40.
On the second to eighth counts, she was charged with receiving a total of RM2,838,290 which was deposited into her CIMB Bank account from Khuzairiah and Mohd Ghazali Othman, 45, through 284 transactions.
She was alleged to have committed the offences at the Ampang Point branch of CIMB Bank Berhad at No 23, Jalan Mamanda 7/1, Wisma Ampang Triangle, Jalan Ampang here between Aug 28, 2014 and April 22, 2016.
She was charged under subsection 4(1)(a) and subsection 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
She is facing a maximum fine of RM5 million or up to 15 years’ jail, or both, upon conviction.
On March 14, she was sentenced to three years and two months jail by the Ampang Magistrate’s Court here for swindling more than RM1 million from a cosmetic surgeon with a Datuk title three years ago.
The court handed down the sentence after Rohaida pleaded guilty to 53 counts of cheating the victim, Dr Abdul Jalil Jidon, 60, by deceiving him into believing that she was the daughter of the Sultan of Pahang, Sultan Ahmad Shah, which prompted him to hand over cash totalling RM1.203 million to her.
The court ordered her to serve the jail sentence from the date of her arrest on March 13, 2017.