KUALA LUMPUR (March 20): A senior partner of Grant Thornton Malaysia who claimed trial to criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering charges last year has been given a full discharge and acquittal by the court.
Judge Datin Sabariah Othman granted Datuk Narendrakumar Chunilal Rugnath, better known as Narendra Jasani, a full acquittal of all charges last Friday (March 17).
Narendra was charged in September last year with eight counts of CBT involving RM2.38 million worth of deposits belonging to Pelangi Prestasi Sdn Bhd, a firm owned by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary that was vying to take over Sabah Forest Industries Sdn Bhd (SFI). He was accused of having committed the offences in his capacity as a manager and receiver of SFI.
In November, the 73-year-old was again charged, this time with one count of money laundering involving RM115 million belonging to SFI.
It is understood that several letters of representation had been sent to the Attorney General's Chambers.
In the written submissions seen by The Edge, Narendra's counsel AG Kalidas was "vehemently opposed" to a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA). Under a DNAA, Narendra could be charged again in the future for similar offences.
He also highlighted the many ongoing civil suits between the parties and added that the firm was never at any point involved in any criminal wrongdoing.
In a statement conveying Narendra's acquittal to Grant Thornton Malaysia's clients and associates on Monday (March 20), the tax and accountancy firm said all the transactions involved in the charges were "valid transactions for SFI without any benefit to Narendra, our firm or any other third parties".
They added that the full acquittal shows the "high integrity and professional standards" upheld by Narendra and the firm.
"Grant Thornton Malaysia reassures all our clients and stakeholders that we practice high professional standards and integrity for all our assignments and we thank you for your trust and invaluable support," they said.
The charges
Under the CBT charges, Narendra was accused of committing the offence between November 2019 and September 2020. The charges were punishable under Section 409 of the Penal Code. If found guilty, Narendra could have faced up to 20 years in prison, whipping and a fine.
As for the money laundering charge, he was accused of purportedly transferring RM115 million of allegedly illegal proceeds from SFI’s CIMB current account to the company’s CIMB interest-bearing fixed deposit account in February 2018.
The RM115 million involved in the charge was part of a RM120 million deposit Pelangi Prestasi paid SFI for the purchase of SFI’s assets for RM1.2 billion.
The charge was framed under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
If found guilty, Narendra could have faced up to 15 years in jail and a fine of not less than five times the proceeds from the unlawful activities — or RM5 million — whichever is higher.