A former CIMB investment banker was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and fined RM1 million today for defrauding investors of RM201,000.
Ruwan Amaresh Shaun Ponniah was sentenced by Kuala Lumpur sessions court judge Norma Ismail after he pleaded guilty to one charge of investment fraud under Section 179(b) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA).
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) said the court took into consideration nine other similar charges under Section 179(b) of the CMSA.
This consideration was made under Section 171A of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows the court to bundle related or admitted offences into a single sentence, it said in a statement.
Ruwan, a former associate director of debt capital markets at CIMB Investment Bank, was arrested and charged by the SC last September with 10 charges under Section 179(b) of the CMSA and an additional charge under Section 58(1) of the same Act.
The SC said Ruwan also pleaded guilty today to the one charge under Section 58(1) of the CMSA for carrying out fund management activities without a licence.
The court sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment and ordered the jail term to run concurrently with the first offence.
Ruwan will have to serve an additional six months’ jail if he fails to pay the RM1 million fine.
The SC said Ruwan had falsely represented to seven investors that he would invest their monies in shares listed on the Malaysian and foreign stock exchanges.
However, the monies were for other purposes without the investors’ knowledge.
The offences took place between October 2018 and June 2020.
Ruwan’s guilty plea was made pursuant to his application for a plea bargain under Section 172C of the Criminal Procedure Code.
He had claimed trial to all the charges and was granted bail of RM210,000 with one surety.
On Feb 5, upon Ruwan’s application to the High Court for a reduction in the bail amount, the sum was reduced to RM105,000.
However, Ruwan was unable to post bail and has been held in remand at Sungai Buloh prison.
