Penang deputy police chief Fisol Salleh said the man was found in the pool at the Palazzo Condominium in Kelawei Road, here, by paramedics responding to a 999 call at 5.20am.

He said the man had likely fallen from the balcony on the 16th floor, and was pronounced dead after he landed in the pool, he told reporters at the state police headquarters today.

It was learnt that the businessman was Ewe Swee Kheng, 54, who was declared “demised” in a securities filing yesterday by the company he founded, Ewein Bhd, where he was executive chairman.

Ewein had built the 17-storey luxury condominium which has only one unit per floor, with each unit costing more than RM2 million.

A family friend said the funeral for the late Ewe, better known as SK Ewe, would be held at the Batu Gantong Hokkien Funeral Parlour at 2pm. His remains would be later cremated at the Kwangtung and Tengchow Association Crematorium in Mount Erskine.

Although it is known that Ewe had fallen to his death, Fisol declined to confirm if it was indeed the developer who had fallen to his death, citing “family sensitivities”.

“I cannot report his identity. All I can say is that he was a Chinese man … Once we are okay to release his name, we will do so. We are doing this out of humanitarian grounds. Imagine if this was your family,” he said.

He said police do not identify the dead to the public but only reveal their gender and ethnicity, or nationality if they were foreigners.

Fisol said a post-mortem by the Penang Hospital revealed that the deceased had died due to multiple injuries due to a fall from some height.

He said a statement was recorded from Ewe’s wife and two children, who were asleep at the time of the incident.

Fisol said the wife and children did not notice anything amiss with the man prior to the incident. He said closed-circuit television camera footage at the condominium viewed by investigators also showed there was no likelihood of criminal elements.

He said the case had been classified as a sudden death.