Luxury items worth RM4.3m seized from mastermind in crude oil scam

KUALA LUMPUR: Police seized cash, a luxury boat and cars worth up to RM4.3 million from the mastermind behind a crude palm oil investment scam, which had raked in over RM31 million.
The main suspect was initially arrested on Wednesday at a restaurant in Kepala Batas, Penang.
Federal police's Commercial Crime Department director Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said following the arrest, police launched another operation from yesterday until today.
"The operation saw a Toyota Land Cruiser, a Bentley Continental and RM850,000 in cash being confiscated," he said in a statement today.
Acryl Sani said police also seized a 250-acre dates farm belonging to the suspect in Batu Kurau, Perak.
The items seized will be investigated under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
The syndicate had offered its investors three investment plans ranging from RM1,885 to RM16,422 for between one and 10 metric tonnes of CPO, promising them returns of between 15% and 30% payable on every 12th working day.
In the beginning, when they started the scheme in early 2016, the syndicate paid profits to their investors, to lure and win their trust.
However, when more investments poured in, the syndicate wound up operations and fled with about RM31 million it had received.