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Showing posts with label Laws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laws. Show all posts

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Public Bank ordered to pay RM90mil in damages to NFC for confidentiality breach, account leak

 


The Federal Court has ordered Public Bank to pay RM30 million each in equitable, exemplary, and aggravated damages to National Feedlot Corporation and three others for disclosing its accounts to the public.

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has ordered Public Bank Bhd to pay RM90mil in damages to Natio­nal Feedlot Corporation ( Corp), its chairman Datuk Mohamad Salleh Ismail, and three sub­sidiary companies for breaching confidentiality by leaking bank account information.

A three-judge panel, chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Hasnah Mohammed, made the decision on the quantum of dama­ges here yesterday.

The court ordered the bank to pay RM30mil for equitable ­damages, RM30mil for aggravated dama­ges and another RM30mil for exemplary damages.

It also imposed a 2% interest on the total, beginning yesterday, until the amount is paid off.

Other judges on the bench were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli and Federal Court judge Justice Abu Bakar Jais.

On May 26, the same panel ­dismissed Public Bank’s appeal in the lawsuit filed by Corp and four others.

The panel unanimously dis­miss­ed the bank’s appeal to ­overturn the Court of Appeal’s August 2023 decision on grounds that common law was not ­applicable in the case.

It ordered Public Bank to pay RM300,000 in costs to Corp and others.

Regarding a cross-appeal by Corp and others against the Court of Appeal’s award of RM10,000 in nominal damages, the court allowed the appeal but deferred the decision on the ­damages’ quantum until Wednesday.

On Aug 30, 2023, the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by Mohamad Salleh and its subsi­diaries against Public Bank for breaching contract confiden­­tia­lity.

The appellate court found a serious misappreciation of evi­den­ce, warranting appellate inter­vention, and ordered Public Bank to pay RM500,000 in costs.

The lawsuit, filed on May 22, 2012, alleged the bank breached confidentiality by allowing ­banking transaction details to be revealed by then PKR vice-­president Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli, who recently resigned as Eco­nomy Minister.

They claimed the breach caused irreparable loss and damage to their business reputation under the Banking and Financial Insti­tu­tions Act.

On July 29, 2019, the High Court dismissed the lawsuit against the bank.

When met by the media later, Mohamad Salleh thanked his legal team.

“My family and I... my wife and children, we went through ­several hardships over the years.

“For 13 years. We are grateful to God,” he said.

Source link https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2025/06/18/bank-ordered-to-pay-rm90mil-to-nfcorp-for-breach-of-confidentiality

3 days ago — Selain NFCorpPublic Bank perlu bayar ganti rugi kepada Mohamad Salleh (kiri), National Meat and Livestock Corporation Sdn Bhd, Agroscience .

Saturday, April 12, 2025

Law must make strata watchdogs act

ation: Liu Rui/GT -    

DeepSeek | 深度求索



 PETALING JAYA: From run-down facilities and dirty walkways to allegations of misused management funds, the issue of poor property and building management continues to plague stratified homes in Malaysia.

With the government now mulling changes to property and building management laws, stakeholders say the focus should be on improving enforcement by the commissioner of buildings (CoB).

The new laws must improve and mandate the CoB to enforce laws under the Strata Management Act (SMA) 2013, said Datuk Theng Book, chairman of the Strata Owners Association Malaysia.

“There’s been a serious lack of enforcement by CoBs. In most cases, they will pass the buck back to management bodies.

“Management corporations (MCs) and joint management committees (JMCs) do not have the authority to enforce the laws,” he said.

This then usually leads to long-drawn-out and expensive civil court cases, he said.

Theng said the new laws must also clarify how MCs or JMCs can use maintenance funds, and standardise maintenance fee rates in the growing trend of mixed development stratified projects.

“The maintenance fee rates for residential and commercial tenants can vary wildly from project to project,” he said.

Michelle Lai, director of property management company Auntie Michelle Resources (M) Sdn Bhd, says the problem is also due to a lack of standardised enforcement and training in the industry.

“There is no consistency as different management offices enforce different rules which leads to confusion, especially for owners and investors who have units in different buildings,” said Lai.

“Many JMCs are not professionally trained and lack the capacity to manage buildings properly.”

She added that new laws should have CoBs demanding greater accountability and professionalism from JMCs and MCs.

“CoBs can perform regular transparent audits of management bodies and set clear enforcement standard operating procedures.

“They should also conduct perio­dic on-site inspections to assess building safety, especially for ageing properties.

“In addition, there must be a mandatory guideline for sche­duled refurbishment and main­tenance of property,” she added.

Malaysian Institute of Property and Facility Managers president Ishak Ismail said any new pro­perty management laws must provide more enforcement mechanisms for management bodies.

On Tuesday, Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming announced that new laws may be formulated to overcome the issue of poor management of stratified homes.

He said there was a shortage of licensed property management firms in Malaysia, with only 594 licensed firms serving 26,334 strata schemes or 2.9 million units of Malaysian strata properties.

This has led to a rise in unlicensed and unqualified property managers

Related posts:

Commissioner Of Buildings (COB) In Malaysia, And Their 6 Main Functions



High-rise living in below par, need professionalism in managing the property\


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Sunday, June 23, 2024

Expert calls for NSRC overhaul as millions lost to scammers posing as NSRC officials

 

WASPADA PANGGILAN DARIPADA NSRC - Laman Web MKN


PETALING JAYA: There is a need to look at the current staffing and ability of the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC), which is unable to handle the scams that are happening, says cybersecurity law expert Derek John Fernandez.

Although there is presently a hotline for scammed victims to report to NSRC, the staff members are not trained enough and the hotline is not active all the time, the lawyer pointed out.

“For now, there is only a handful of borrowed civil staff manning NSRC’s 997 hotline and it is not on round the clock, all year round.

“On top of that, those who take the calls are not adequately trained to diagnose these cases and as scams take place almost instantly due to advanced technology, speed is of much necessity in stopping a scammer. 

“It should be a 24-hour hotline run by trained personnel at the call centre with the right amount of budget and resources.

“Without this, NSRC cannot fulfil its mandate as the national scam response centre,” said Fernandez, who is also a Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) commissioner.

He feels that there is much to be done to strengthen NSRC and coordinate its four main components – the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Bank Negara, MCMC and National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NFCC) – to enable it to function more effectively as a one-stop anti-scam centre.

“The policies of NSRC must be pushed to reduce scam risks. My view is that the agency now has insufficient resources to carry out a full service to cover all complaints of scams.

“On top of that, it also lacks staff to conduct proper diagnoses of attempted scams,” he said.

Fernandez said that if NSRC is to function as a one-stop centre for all scam responses, the government must provide it with more funds and the latest technology.

“The agency head and staff members must also be given more command and control to be able to stop scammers,” he said.

He called on the four main components of NSRC as well as financial institutions to play their part in training the staff members.

“There must be clear and defined mandates, powers and financing of the centre,” said Fernandez.

Meanwhile, the Alliance for Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye called for the government to equip the NSRC with the latest technologies to fight cybercrime as well as to update any obsolete cyber laws.

“In our fight against scamners, it is necessary to make full use of the NSRC but to do so the government must equip NSRC with the latest technologies.

“Online scamming has become such a serious issue that most of the criminal activities by scammers are online.

“We need to employ the latest technologies. We must utilise NSRC to deal with public complaints.

“We need to look at the expertise needed, albeit foreign expertise if need be,” said Lee.

He said that it is sad that although NSRC is already a year old, it has yet to be the one stop anti scam centre it was supposed to be.

“The authorities should revisit NSRC and ensure that more work is done to beef up the centre. It must involve all the four relevant components of the NSRC.

“I hope the authorities will make sure the centre is not only to solve scams but is also a prevention agency to stop more scams from happening.

“The government should also study the current cyber laws and amend them to ensure our cybersecurity legislation is updated to ensure we will win in our fight against cybercrime,” said Lee.

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 Millions lost to scammers posing as NSRC officials

KUALA LUMPUR: Scammers impersonating National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) personnel have already duped 60 people this year, resulting in RM7.6mil worth of losses, says Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.

The Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said the victims would receive calls from someone claiming to be from the NSRC, who would then tell them that their phone number was linked to a scam report and might be cancelled.

“The call will then be transferred to another person, posing as a police officer.

“They will be told to follow every instruction until they eventually transfer funds to an account,” he said when contacted. 

Comm Ramli emphasised that NSRC operates solely as a one-way communications centre for reporting scams.

“NSRC officers will not call anyone and if you receive any calls claiming to be from the centre, it is definitely a scam.

“I also hope the public will make use of the SemakMule portal to check and verify bank accounts before making transactions,” he said.

The police have opened 60 investigations into such cases, involving RM7.6mil in losses, as of June 15, Comm Ramli said.

“One of the latest cases involves a 70-year-old retired factory worker in Johor who lost RM584,000 of his life savings after he received a call from scammers posing as NSRC officers,” he added.

On another matter, Comm Ramli said there were reported losses of RM1.07bil from 14,846 commercial cases in the first 24 weeks of the year.

“We recorded an average of 88 cases daily,” he said.

He added that the number of cases had increased slightly from the 14,798 cases that were recorded in the corresponding period last year.

“However, the amount of losses has spiked by about 27% as the cases resulted in RM843mil in losses last year,” he said.

He added that the CCID is confident in dealing with the huge number of cases, as it has seen an increase in successful prosecutions.

“A total of 7,018 investigation papers led to successful prosecutions this year compared with the same period last year when 6,219 prosecutions were recorded,” he said.

Comm Ramli reminded the public to be more vigilant.

“Help us spread commercial crime prevention messages. Let us work together to create a safer environment, free from commercial crime,” he said.

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Thursday, November 11, 2021

Govt failed to forfeit 1MDB assets

 


Govt fails in bid to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets from Najib, family and others


KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today ordered the government to immediately return assets which were seized from former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, their three children and several others.

Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan made the order after dismissing the government's application which sought to forfeit hundreds of items including designer handbags, vehicles and cash in various currencies said to be linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

In his decision, Zaini said the prosecution had failed to prove that the properties seized were connected to unlawful activities.

He said there was no evidence to show that the properties seized from Najib, Rosmah, their children Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz (Najib's stepson), Nor Ashman and Nooryana Najwa, were bought using money in the former prime minister's bank accounts.


The prosecution, he said, had in fact admitted that some of the seized properties were gifts.

He said the prosecution's argument that the cash and properties in question could have been gained from the monies deposited in Najib's bank accounts was based on presumption.

"The prosecution merely listed down the properties seized and their value, and in turn concluded that these respondents do not have the means to such a huge amount of cash or to purchase these properties based on their income.

"They had surmised that the cash and properties concerned could have only been gained from the monies deposited in the first respondent's (Najib) accounts.

"It is apparent that the applicant had only come to this conclusion based on presumption," he said.

The judge added that there was lack of evidence to prove that there was a direct link between the monies that were alleged to have been illegally gained to the cash found and the properties bought.

He said there was simply no nexus proven in the case.

He also rejected the government's bid to forfeit the monies kept in three Hong Leong bank accounts and the RM15 million bungalow in Penang belonging to Goh Gaik Ewe, the mother of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho saying that the prosecution had failed to prove that the bank accounts were related to or had been used for the commission of unlawful activities.

He said the relationship between Goh and any of the characters or entities in the 1MDB affairs was also conspicuously missing.

"The applicant did not offer any evidence to show how the monies deposited into these bank accounts were linked to any illegal transactions or that they were proceeds of unlawful activities.

"As for the bungalow, there was simply no averment whatsoever in any of the applicant's affidavits pertaining to it," he said.

The others who get to keep their monies following the government's failure in its bid to forfeit the assets were company Senijauhar Sdn Bhd, Aiman Ruslan, former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng and his wife Lim Hwee Bin.

The court however, allowed the government's bid to forfeit the assets from the respondents that did not contest the application namely Mohd Kyizzad Mesran, Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia, Yayasan Semesta, Yayasan Mustika Kasih and Rembulan Kembara Sdn Bhd and those who have absconded who were former 1MDB officers Kee Kok Thiam, Tan Vern Tact and Terence Geh Choh Hun.

Deputy public prosecutor Harris Ong Mohd Jeffrey Ong informed the court that the prosecution will be filing an appeal against the decision and asked for a stay of the order to return money to the respondents.

However, Zaini said the court will not make any order for a stay.

"If the forfeiture application is denied, it is a natural progression that the prosecution should return it (properties) back (to the respondents)," the judge said.

On May 8, 2019, the Attorney General's Chambers filed a notice of motion to forfeit hundreds of items, allegedly linked to 1MDB scandal, including handbags of various brands and 27 vehicles seized from Najib, Rosmah, their three children, as well as 13 individuals and companies.

In addition, money amounting to more than RM18 million in several bank accounts at Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, Al-Rajhi Bank Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, CIMB Bank Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, AmBank Bhd and Hong Leong Bank Bhd, that was frozen between Aug 16, 2018 and March 11, 2019.

Among the items mentioned in the forfeiture notice are handbags, shoes and watches of various brands, as well as cash in various currencies that were seized by the police on May 17, 2018 and June 11, 2018, as well as 27 Nissan vehicles that were seized on Aug 2, 2018 and a piece of land in Tanjung Bungah, Penang. 

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