Six arrested in Malaysia oil bunkering scam

A total of six suspects, including a Datuk Seri and three Datuks, working at Kuala Lumpur-based investment firm Royal Gold have been arrested at Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in late January.

The group were allegedly behind a scam involving gold bar and bunker trading activity, said Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Amar Singh Ishar Singh.

“The suspects consist of the company directors and organisers of the scheme whereby the syndicate conducted its operations by offering two major investments, namely gold bars and oil trading with lucrative returns for a period of nine months,” he said during a press conference, as quoted by Malaysia state newspaper Bernama.

“For the gold bars investment scheme, investors were promised a return of 2% per month while for the oil bunkering scheme, they were promised a return of 15% every month, also for a period of nine months.”

To date, 193 complaints with a total contract value of RM 27.5 million ($7 million) have been made against Royal Gold since October 2017, reports The Star.

It estimated total losses to be RM 200 million when considering the remaining unregistered complaints.

A member of Malaysia’s royal family, though not arrested, was among suspects in the scam, notes the report; it added official Royal Gold documents had the individual’s royal seal.

“We are trying to verify if he is part of the group, or just used to woo investors,” said Datuk Seri Singh.

Police confiscated eight luxury vehicles, eight mobile phones, three ATM cards, four gold wafers, three branded watches, five cheque books and RM200,000 in cash in the January raid.

Investigations continue.

Photo credit: The Star
Published: 5 February, 2018