R Gopinatan Pillai, 60, was charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code with one count of defrauding an individual to believe that 150,000 boxes of Hartalega-branded nitrile examination gloves were available at Hartalega Sdn Bhd for sale and to be handed over to Aspen Broadway Sdn Bhd, owned by the accused, even though the gloves did not exist.

His actions resulted in the victim handing over RM5.1 million through a law firm to the account owned by another law firm appointed by Aspen Broadway, Bernama reported.

The offence is said to have been committed at a condominium along Jalan Tun Ismail near here on Nov 9, 2020.

Gopinatan Pillai is also charged with six counts of transferring RM5,005,000 from his company’s (Aspen Broadway) bank account to several other company accounts and his personal account and one charge of receiving money from illegal activities totalling RM5.1 million from the law firm’s account to his company’s account.

All seven offences, charged under Paragraph 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, punishable under subsection 4(1) of the same Act, are said to have been committed at several banks in Sentul between Nov 10, 2020 and Feb 6, 2021.

Deputy public prosecutor Chow Siang Kong offered bail of RM2.5 million with two sureties on all charges with the additional condition that the accused’s passport be handed over to the court till the case is settled.

Lawyer K Komagan representing Gopinatan Pillai requested for a low bail amount as his client is the main provider for his family and had cooperated well with the police during the investigation.

Judge Hamidah Deril allowed bail of RM280,000 on all charges with two sureties, with the additional conditions that the accused report to the police station and his passport is surrendered to the court till the completion of the case. She set case remention for March 26.