Rajpal Singh said the 34-year-old’s habit of showing off his wealth had triggered authorities to question his sources of income.

“He is just a young guy who makes a lot of money and shows off but he’s not part of any gang. He’s not a gangster.

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“He was never involved in any organised crime. The depiction of him being the head of a syndicate or gang is not true,” he told FMT today.

Rajpal said that in the past, Liow had donated a lot of money to the police, the prisons department and several other parties.

Earlier today, Liow was slapped with 26 counts of money laundering totalling RM36 million in the Shah Alam sessions court.

He had been in hiding for a year after police launched a crackdown on his alleged gang over suspicion of having been involved in Macau scam operations.

Asked if Liow had ever fled the country, Rajpal said to his knowledge, he never left the country.

“Basically, he was not in favour of Sosma being used against him because he believed he was not involved in an organised crime,” he said, referring to the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.

“He thought it was unfair to use Sosma against him.”

In April last year, Liow, his assistant and 14 others were charged in absentia under Section 130V of the Penal Code for being members of an organised crime group.

However, the 14 individuals were given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) by the High Court in September.

Rajpal said the defeat of the motion to extend the Sosma provision on the 28-day detention in the Dewan Rakyat recently was good news to Liow, who then considered coming out of hiding.

“He (Liow) said if the issue is with alleged involvement in commercial crime, he’s willing to step forward, give his statement, and cooperate with the police,” he said.