KUALA LUMPUR (March 26): Police are believed to have called up several corporate figures in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in their investigations related to the money trail of the now-defunct pyramid scheme MBI.

Sources said that at least two corporate lawyers in Penang have been questioned, and documents related to property and share transactions dealing with MBI have been seized from their offices and homes.

“Among the files taken from the homes and offices are transactions involving the Bayan Mutiara development on Penang Island where a company with shareholders linked to MBI emerged as the major shareholders in 2018. The land is one of the most prized assets in Penang with a development potential of close to RM10 billion,” said a source.

According to sources, the operations were conducted by the Anti-Money Laundering Division from Bukit Aman that carried out simultaneous investigations in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. The operations started last week. Police officers visited the offices and homes as well as seized documents from the premises over the weekend.

This is the first major police operation on MBI and its money trail, following months of investigations on the money trail. Sources said the operations were carried out directly from Bukit Aman and caught many in the state by surprise.

The Bayan Mutiara project is a 102.6-acre mixed development project that was tendered out by Penang Development Corporation in 2011 for RM1.07 billion. Out of the 102.6 acres, 35 acres is to be reclaimed off the sea near the Penang Bridge.

Ivory Properties Group Bhd (KL:IVORY), a company linked to MBI, won the tender. Ivory Properties is the developer of Penang Times Square, which MBI was the anchor tenant of. The retail mall is now vacant.

MBI is also a major purchaser of other retail spaces and condominiums within the Penang Times Square development that has now stalled.

A few months after winning the tender in 2011, Ivory Properties partnered with Tropicana Corp Bhd (KL:TROP) for the Bayan Mutiara project. The mixed development was positioned as the biggest property development on the island and was called Penang World City. It was slated to be completed by 2020.

However, in 2018, both Ivory Properties and Tropicana Corp exited the Bayan Mutiara project due to financial constraints. They sold their stakes to Hemat Tuah Sdn Bhd, a company in which a brother of MBI founder Tedy Teow Wooi Huat is the major shareholder.

The Edge reported that Teow Wooi Pin, a brother of Tedy, held 45% in Hemat Tuah. Another individual, Tan Kim Hee, holding 15%, is said to be the brother-in-law of Tedy.

“The transactions between Ivory-Trop and Hemat Tuah were handled by the lawyers whom the police have also called up to assist in their investigation to uncover the money trail. The police have also taken files related to share transactions of private companies related to MBI that were handled by the lawyers,” said a source.

One of the lawyers held an advisory position in a leading business organisation in Penang while the other lawyer was a board member of companies linked to MBI.

Apart from the two lawyers, police have also called in for questioning two others involved in the development of the Bayan Mutiara project. One of them was a former director in Hemat Tuah and an influential figure in the property scene in Penang.

In Kuala Lumpur, it is learnt that police have also called in a major shareholder of several listed companies to assist in their investigations on the MBI money trail. The corporate figure is from Kedah and is said to have been used to have dealings with the key personalities of MBI.

“Police are trying to determine whether there was any MBI money in the listed companies,” said a source.

MBI, which was founded by Tedy, was a pyramid scheme that was based in Penang. Its core product was the trading of digital coins, called M-Coins, that was not sanctioned by Bank Negara Malaysia. Thousands of depositors stretching up to China were conned into placing deposits with the scheme.

At one stage, MBI was said to have collected several billions. But when the scheme collapsed in 2018 after a raid by Bank Negara, depositors were left in a lurch without any avenue to recover the money. The money frozen from the MBI Group International's account was only RM177 million.

While Malaysian depositors of the scheme were largely inactive over the loss due to the collapse of MBI, depositors from China staged protests in Kuala Lumpur and filed legal suits here to recover their money.  

Tedy himself fled to Danok, Thailand, in 2019. He was arrested by the Thai police in 2022 and extradited to China in August 2024.

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