THE Court of Appeal today set July 7 to hear the appeals by 14 people, including two brothers of businessman, Nicky Liow Soon Hee, to be freed from the charges of being involved in the organised crime group known as Nicky Gang.

The court’s three-member panel, led by Kamaludin Md Said, set the date after allowing the application from lawyer Rajpal Singh to postpone today’s hearing.

The two other judges were Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Nordin Hassan.

Last September 30, the Shah Alam High Court gave a discharge not amounting to an acquittal to the 14 people, including four Chinese nationals, from the charges.

Judge Abd Halim Aman made the decision following an application by the prosecution to release all the accused without being acquitted as the prosecution intends to pursue the charges in future.

The accused, however, filed an application to be freed from the charges.

Earlier, Rajpal, who represented 13 of the appellants, requested a postponement of the hearing as he was waiting for the development of another case at the Federal Court involving a woman who was acquitted and discharged from a charge of murdering an Indonesian maid, which to is heard on June 23.

“The development of the case is vital as it is linked to the appeals to be submitted before you, Your Honour. Hence, I would like to request a new date for the hearing of this case,” he said.

The other appellant was represented by lawyer Jasmine Chong.

Two of the accused are the younger brothers of Nicky, namely Liow Wei Kin and  Liow Wei Loon.

The other accused are Lee Han Keat, Lee Kam Onn, Lee Kum Weng, Eee Eng Chee, Jovian Joris Tan Chern Chian, Loo Siew Chin, Lim Kang Li and Andrew Lim Kim Ming as well as Chinese nationals Huang Lei, Wang Yu Jun, Gu Xing Qiong and Jiang Xue, aged between 20 and 56.

According to the charge, the 13 are alleged to be members of the organised crime group, Nicky Gang, in SetiaWalk, Persiaran Wawasan, Pusat Bandar Puchong, Selangor between January 1, 2017 and March 20, 2021.

They were charged under section 130V(1) of the penal code, which provides for a maximum of 20 years in jail, if found guilty.

Meanwhile, Kim Ming is accused of assisting the same criminal gang at SetiaWalk, Persiaran Wawasan, Pusat Bandar Puchong, between January 1, 2017 and March 29, 2021, under section 130W of the penal code, which provides for a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment, upon conviction. – Bernama, April 28, 2022.