THE Court of Appeal today acquitted and discharged 14 people, including two siblings of businessman Nicky Liow Soon Hee, from charges of being involved in organised crime group Nicky Gang five years ago.

The three-panel judge led by Kamaludin Mat Said made the unanimous decision after lawyer Rajpal Singh representing 13 of the 14 accused, informed that the Attorney-General’s Chambers had received representations from all appellants to be fully acquitted of the charges.

“The High Court’s order of discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) is set aside. With this, all the accused are acquitted and discharged from the charges,” said Kamaludin, who sat with Nordin Hassan and Hashim Hamzah.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar confirmed that the AGC had received and considered the representations from the appellants. The 14th appellant was represented by lawyer Jasmine Cheong.

The 14 accused, including four Chinese nationals, appealed the Shah Alam High Court’s decision on Sept 30 last year, which granted them a DNAA from the charges.

Judge Abd Halim Aman made the decision following the prosecution’s application to release all the accused without being acquitted, as it intended to pursue the charges in the future.

Two of the accused are the younger brothers of Nicky, namely, Liow Wei Kin and Liow Wei Loon, while the others 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 four Chinese nationals, Huang Lei, Wang Yu Jun, Gu Xing Qiong and Jiang Xue, aged between 20 and 50. 

According to the charge, the 13 were accused of being members of the Nicky Gang around SetiaWalk, Persiaran Wawasan, Pusat Bandar Puchong, 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, 14th defendant Andrew Lim was accused of assisting the same criminal group 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, July 7, 2022.