TAWAU: The Tawau High Court on Monday issued warrants of arrest for 41 Chinese nationals after they failed to appear in court to answer charges of criminal conspiracy linked to an online scam syndicate.
The warrants were issued by Justice Steve Ritikos after only 39 of the 80 accused were present at proceedings to review the bail conditions of the Chinese nationals charged under Section 120B of the Penal Code.
The 41 others failed to appear at an earlier mention on April 21 and were absent Monday as well.
They are believed to have fled or returned to their home country, while their bailors also failed to appear to provide show-cause letters.
As a result, the court ordered warrants of arrest against them and the cancellation and forfeiture of their bail money to the Government.
On April 21, the same court tightened the bail conditions imposed on the 80 individuals accused of involvement in an online scam syndicate by ordering their passports to be surrendered and requiring them to report regularly to the police.
This followed a review application by the prosecution against the Magistrates’ Court’s decision to allow all the accused to be released on bail, considering the offence was bailable, after they pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy.
A total of 78 of the accused were Chinese nationals, including four women, while the remaining two were from Myanmar and Laos.
