Syndicate invested in cryptocurrency worth more than RM336mil
JOHOR BARU: Police have crippled a major Macau Scam syndicate which used its ill-gotten gains to buy property and invest in cryptocurrency totalling more than RM336mil.
At least 12 suspects – nine men and three women – were arrested in a series of raids in Penang and Kuala Lumpur last month.
Among the suspects were company directors.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay ( pic) said in Ops Pelican 2.0, police uncovered an intricate web of how the syndicate operated, including the identity of the mastermind, numerous mule accounts, fake companies and investments.
Victims who have been duped by the syndicate would first be told to transfer money into a mule account.
“The money is then channelled to another mule account belonging to another company,” he said, adding that all the mule accounts belonged to syndicate members and were designed not to leave a money trail.
Comm Ayob said the funds were then transferred to a property developer in Penang to purchase property and invest in Bitcoins.
“This modus operandi aimed to avoid detection from the authorities and was their way of money laundering,” he said during a press conference at the Johor police headquarters yesterday.
To date, police have found 91 mule accounts comprising 73 company bank accounts and 18 personal accounts.
“Since June last year, some RM25mil has been used to make progress payment for 100 condominium and commercial units in George Town,” he said.
Based on the Sale and Purchase Agreements, two companies are involved in property acquisition in 2015 totalling RM336mil.
Comm Ayob said the two companies belonged to the 55-year-old mastermind who has a criminal record. He is believed to have fled the country and is currently hiding in Thailand.
The man’s two sons are directors in the companies.
“Our investigations showed that some of the proxies and directors in the bogus companies are paid RM16,000 monthly,” he said.
The 12 suspects, aged between 29 and 68, have since been released on police bail.
Police are probing the case under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
You carry your smartphone everywhere. But the
way you use it could leave you vulnerable to specific forms of identity
theft, including robocall scams and hackers looking to hijack your phone
number. — AP
Report shows more people going out again after Dec 7
Since the start of the conditional movement control order in May, the amount of time Malaysians spent at home has mostly been on a downward trend even as Covid-19 cases soared in the past few months.
This is one of the insights from Oxford University’s Our World in Data portal (ourworldindata.org), which analysed a report from Google that tracks the movement of people in more than 130 countries since the pandemic began.
Google’s Covid- 19 Community Mobility Report records changes in the number of visitors each day to various types of locations such as workplaces, and retail and recreational areas.
The report, based on data Google collects from users who have their location history setting turned on, also measures the change in the amount of time people spend at home each day.
The daily changes are compared with a baseline figure taken from before the pandemic, which is the median value over the five-week period from Jan 3 to Feb 6, 2020.
Charts created by Our World in Data based on the Google report shows how the movement of people, including in Malaysia, changed throughout the pandemic.
When Covid-19 first emerged, many Malaysians were still spending their days mostly at their workplaces or other locations instead of being at home.
That changed after the MCO was introduced on March 18.
On March 27, time spent at home shot up with a 36.14% increase compared with the baseline period while the number of visitors to workplaces fell to negative 63.71% due to MCO restrictions.
Malaysians, however, started venturing out of their homes more following the introduction of the conditional MCO on May 4.
The conditional MCO relaxed some of the earlier restrictions, with most economic sectors and activities allowed to operate with physical distancing.
As a result, time spent at home started falling and on Aug 30 hit a low of just 4.57% more than the baseline.
The start of a third wave of Covid19 cases since Sept 20 saw a relatively brief increase in time spent at home.
However, the figure fell again especially after Dec 7 when restrictions on inter-district and interstate travel were lifted, with the exception of areas under the enhanced MCO
Beating Covid-19 in 2021: Managing time, risk and ambition
Think bigger: We must reimagine a a new social contract for health, one
that protects citizens and non-citizens in fair, sustainable and
politically acceptable ways.
VERY often in the pandemic of 2020, we found ourselves in situations with no good choices. That's normal. This is a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic with no useful policy textbooks or manuals. Public health experts and scientists raced to understand Covid-19, and we continue to learn more. Political leaders and policymakers struggled to deploy old solutions for a vast new problem.
It's now 11 months since Malaysia's first Covid-19 case. As we forge ahead into 2021, I humbly offer three strategies for Malaysia's national health: to use time wisely; to stabilise our tolerance levels of risk; and to match our solutions to the size of the problem. This will help us in our second year with Covid-19.
Firstly, Malaysia must use time wisely. In other words, we must prepare for future problems today, instead of waiting for the problems to arrive. For example, we had four months between June-Sept 2020 when we had very few cases. That quiet period came after a national MCO sacrifice of two months. We may not have utilised that four quiet months effectively.
Some of the problems in the third wave are similar to the problems in the first two waves. Examples include the living conditions of foreign workers, the speed and scale of testing and isolating, effective contact tracing using apps, data sharing from the Health Ministry, and coordination between federal-state responses.
This is why Malaysia must use time wisely in 2021. Quiet periods or not, the government must use time to rebuild, strengthen infrastructure and implement long-term durable solutions. Two specific examples include building the vaccine infrastructure before the first stocks arrive in Feb 2021, and to deliver a clear management plan when we find positive Covid-19 cases during the mass testing of foreign workers starting in Jan 2021.
In the second year of the pandemic, we cannot fight the same problems as in the first year. We must get these old problems under control, and then solve new ones. That means we must use our time wisely, and not waste it.
The second strategy for national health in 2021 is to stabilise our tolerance levels for risk. After one year, it seems like we are willing to tolerate much higher levels of risk, compared to the early stages of the pandemic. This can be dangerous. We must have a stable tolerance level of risk, not increasingly tolerate more and more risk.
Here's an example. In March, we had approximately 100-300 daily new cases. In December, we had approximately 850-2300 daily new cases. Despite this dramatic increase, everyone has started taking Covid-19 lightly. Government entities are no longer marching to the same disciplined tune as in the beginning of the pandemic and appear to be more relaxed. Citizens are no longer consistently wearing masks or physically distancing.
There may be reasons why we take it lightly. We all have pandemic fatigue and want our old lives back. Malaysia may have 2000 daily cases in December, but we feel better when comparing it to Indonesia's 5000-8000 cases or the United Kingdom's 13,000-53,000 cases in the same month. These are understandable, but dangerous.
We cannot take Covid-19 lightly. We cannot endlessly tolerate increasing amounts of pandemic risk. I do not think a second full lockdown will work to help avoid it. But I do not believe that we can endlessly tolerate more risk and assume that we will never need it.
What I do support is a stable level of risk tolerance. In other words, take Covid-19 consistently seriously until we are all safe. A pandemic continues to rage around us. To government agencies, take things seriously, communicate better, use time wisely and prepare for future problems. To citizens, wear your masks and stay home where possible. Don't let the increasing numbers numb us into thinking that we can endlessly tolerate more risk.
The third and final strategy for national health in 2021 is to match our solutions to the size of the pandemic. In other words, we need solutions that are proportional to the size of the problem. After one year of fighting Covid-19, we know that our pre-2020 solutions, tools and policies are inadequate. Covid-19 is simply too big for any old solutions.
In the early stages, all governments are forgiven if they don't know what to do. After one year of Covid-19, all governments lose that excuse. Given the scale of Covid-19, we need ambitious, imaginative and Very Big solutions to a Very Big problem. In other words, unprecedented problems need unprecedented solutions, not old, timid and ineffective solutions.
This means that our government must aim much higher in 2021. We need new ways to deliver history's most important vaccination program, as safely, effectively and quickly as possible. We must reimagine a new social contract for health, that protects citizens and non-citizens in fair, sustainable and politically acceptable ways. We can integrate our non-health and health infrastructure to enable better contact tracing, such as South Korea's use of credit card transactions and China's use of QR codes. We need a true whole-of-society response.
In the first year, governments can be forgiven for relying on what they are familiar with. In the second year, governments must respond to Covid-19 in much bigger ways. This once-in-a-lifetime problem requires once-in-a-lifetime solutions. Only then can we beat this pandemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic will define not just 2020, but the 2020s. The strategic choices we make in 2021 will define how effectively Malaysia manages Covid-19 and recovers from it. This new year let us make three resolutions as a country: to use our time wisely, to stabilise our tolerance of risk, and to bring ambitious giant solutions to a giant problem. — Sin Chew Daily/Asia News Network
Dr Khor Swee Kheng is an independent consultant for the World Health Organisation. The views expressed here are solely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Star.
Health experts say the current Covid-19 situation in the country is not favourable for social gatherings even for welcoming the New Year.
“Current active cases have exceeded 21,000 and daily numbers are close to 2,000. We should not expose ourselves to any risk of infection,” said Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman.
“We should also not strain our healthcare system further.”
The conditional movement control order (MCO) was eased for the sake of the country’s economy, and not for engaging in big social crowds or family gatherings, said Dr Malina.
She advised the public to continue to comply with SOP, as the vaccine was yet to be made available locally.
“Hopefully the vaccine will reach our country soon. Singapore has started the vaccination for their frontliners today (yesterday) and their cases are much lower compared to us, we have to be more consistent and vigilant against Covid-19.
“Or we can expect early next year to be markedly different from our neighbouring country,” she said.
Universiti Malaya professor of epidemiology and public health Prof Dr Sanjay Rampal said for the next few weeks, it was important to do two things.
“First, avoid being in congested and confined areas for prolonged durations. It may be hard at times to maintain the minimum 1m physical distancing but we have to.
“Second, there may be a need to maintain a social circle for longterm emotional and psychosocial support, but avoid a large bubble, and restrict mixing across networks,” he said.
For New Year celebrations, Dr Sanjay suggested that the public usher in the New Year by staying at home.
Large gatherings, if any, should be held in big, open spaces while practising physical distancing, he said, adding that the location should have sufficient amenities to promote good sanitation and hygiene.
Medical Practitioners Coalition Association of Malaysia president Dr Raj Kumar Maharajah concurred that celebrations should be held in open areas with good ventilation to reduce the probability of getting infected.
Dr Raj said air conditioned and closed spaces without good ventilation posed a risk to people.
“Malaysians can celebrate in open areas by observing the SOP laid out by the Health Ministry. Use your face mask, observe social distancing, and wash and sanitise your hands regularly,” he said.
Going into the new year, Dr Raj believed there would not be “total freedom”.
“There will still be restrictions for the whole of next year. Hopefully, the vaccine can ease that for us. However, let’s remain positive and hope for the best,” he said.
