This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 5, 2018 - January 11, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer representing one of four former directors of gold bar investment firm Genneva Sdn Bhd was taken to task by the Court of Appeal yesterday for filing a review of the ongoing case.

“We understand that a review application was filed. The case has not been completed and yet you file a review,” Judge Datuk Wira Mohtarudin Baki told counsel Datuk Harpal Singh Grewal.

“I feel like it’s an insult. Why can’t you wait until the case is completed?” asked Mohtarudin, who chaired a panel with Datuk Seri Zakaria Sam and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.

Harpal Singh, who is the counsel for Chin Wai Leong, filed the review against Chin’s conviction on Tuesday. On Dec 12, the Court of Appeal found Chin, 42, fellow ex-directors Ng Poh Weng, 68, Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 66, and Liew Chee Wah, 64, as well as Genneva guilty of 293 counts of money laundering.

They were also convicted of five counts of lllegal deposit-taking, involving more than RM100 million. The court had set yesterday for submission and sentencing.

But the proceeding was adjourned to Jan 11 after the court was informed that Chin had appointed new lawyers led by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Shafee was not present in court yesterday and another lawyer, Sarah Abishegum, sought an adjournment to allow Shafee to attend court and mitigate his client’s sentence.

“Tan Sri Shafee is not available today (yesterday), and because this case is very serious, he prefers to do the mitigation himself,” said Abishegum.

Mohtarudin said the court was not informed of the appointment of the additional lawyers. “As far as the court is concerned, your names are not listed here,” he told Abishegam.

But Mohtarudin proceeded to set Jan 11 as the new sentencing date.

This case can be traced back to as early as July 21, 2009, when Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) started investigating Genneva on suspicion of illegal deposit-taking activities.

Slightly more than a year later, the four ex-directors were charged in the Sessions Court. In March 2011, they were slapped with additional charges.

However, in May 2013, the Sessions Court acquitted them. Upon appeal, the case went to the High Court, which affirmed the acquittal on Sept 20, 2016.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers and BNM then appealed the decision.

On 31, 2012, then Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Awang Adek Husin told Parliament that Genneva had 35,000 investors, and the company had raised some RM10 billion from the public. By the end of that year, a statement by the authorities revealed that Genneva’s liabilities exceeded 10 times its assets.

Investigations by the authorities also revealed that over 8,000 customers of Genneva Malaysia who had paid for gold amounting to more than 4,000kg had yet to receive the precious product, and RM80 million was owed to customers who had surrendered their gold to the company but yet to receive their cash reimbursement.