THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is actively tracking assets and money related to illegal activities of an international investment fraud syndicate. 

MACC said in a statement efforts to recover millions of ringgit are being carried out with the help of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Interpol, National Crime Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The anti-graft agency is pursuing the money after four masterminds of the syndicate, who are foreigners, were charged in Shah Alam courts on Thursday and Butterworth yesterday, three weeks after their operation was launched.

They were caught in a MACC covert operation, codenamed Op Tropicana, that was held simultaneously at 24 establishments in the Klang Valley and Penang. 

The four British nationals were sentenced to prison and fined after pleading guilty to an alternative charge of cheating.

Yesterday, the Shah Alam Sessions Court sentenced two British men to six months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of running a fraudulent international online investment scheme.

Judge Rozilah Salleh also fined Andrew Mark Peters, 55, RM180,000 in lieu of 22 months in prison, while Darren Anthony McNicholas, 51, was fined RM140,000, in lieu of 16 months behind bars.

Peters was charged with two counts of running the scheme, instructing McNicholas under the pseudonyms “David Henshaw” and “Henry Paxton” to deceive a Scottish citizen with guaranteed high profits from a short-term investment by purchasing shares in two non-existent companies.

Previously, five British and two Filipino nationals were among the 10 people arrested by the MACC in raids in Kuala Lumpur and Penang on February 21 over an international investment fraud scheme, which also involved money-laundering and other corrupt practices. 

As for allegations MACC is monitoring five major banks over involvement in the fraud syndicate, the agency said the investigation is more focused on  individuals involved and not involving the financial institutions specifically.

“They are a handful of professionals (professional enablers) including bank officers, accountants and company secretaries who act to enable the operation of the illegal syndicate.

“MACC will continue to work closely with BNM and other enforcement agencies to bring down this international fraud syndicate.” – March 18, 2023.