The former president of the government-run Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), Cheong Chou Weng, also known as Jackson Chang, was sentenced to two years behind bars today for breach of secrecy and irregularities in his income declaration.
The sentence was announced by the Court of First Instance (TJB) this afternoon.
Cheong was not found guilty of the crimes of criminal association, corruption and money laundering, the court ruled, citing lack of evidence.
According to the court, Cheong was found guilty of releasing confidential information to a criminal organisation which was behind the illegal granting of residency permits to purported investors and professionals by the institute. According to the Public Prosecution, the criminal organisation set up fake companies, fake employment contracts and arranged fake salary payments to back up the bogus residency permit applications. About a dozen bogus investors and professionals benefitted from the scam, according to the trial.
Gloria Batalha Ung, a former executive board member of the institute, was sentenced to one year and nine months behind bars for breach of secrecy and abuse of power.
Cheong's wife and daughter were not found guilty of money laundering because of lack of evidence, the court said.
Miguel Ian Iat Chun, the former chief of the institute's residency application and legal affairs division, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.
Businessman Ng Kuok Sao was sentenced to 18 years in prison for document forgery and membership of a criminal organisation that was behind the illegal granting of residency permits by the institute then headed by Cheong. Several of the 26 defendants were also sentenced to lengthy prison terms including Ng's wife, Wu Shu Hua, who received a 12-year jail term. Ng was sentenced in absentia. He and his wife were handed the trial's longest jail sentences.
Cheong, who was on remand before and during the trial, was set free after the judgement until his sentence takes legal effect. He and the other defendants have 20 days to appeal. If his sentence becomes legally binding, he would only have to serve seven months behind bars as his custody on remand would be taken into account, judicial sources pointed out.
Only five of the 26 defendants attended today's sentencing. Presiding Judge Leong Fong Men noted in the judgement that none of the three senior IPIM officials - Cheong, Batalha Ung and Ian - showed remorse during the trial, adding she hoped that by standing in the dock the trio had learnt a lesson.
Cheong's lawyer Alvaro Rodrigues told reporters after the sentencing that "in principle" his client could appeal.
Batalha Ung's lawyer Pedro Leal said his client's sentence was a "big surprise". He said that a suspended jail sentence would have been more appropriate in her case. He said that compared with Cheong's sentence his client's sentence appeared to be excessive.
The Office of the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) issued tonight a detailed statement on the outcome of the trial.
