The money was collected through two Subang Jaya-based cooperatives for non-existent affordable housing projects in various states.
The cheating cases involved total losses amounting to RM13.6 million.
Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Amar Singh Ishar Singh said after receiving reports against the cooperatives, police detained an individual with the honorific title of “Datuk” on Feb 7.
“The Datuk is the 52-year-old chief executive officer of the first cooperative and chairman of the second cooperative.
“The suspect claimed he was appointed as an agent for both cooperatives to appoint interested contractors to build affordable housing projects nationwide.”
He said the suspect, under the first cooperative offered construction projects in Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak and Johor, while projects in Melaka, Kedah and Perak were offered under the second cooperative.
Amar said the suspect’s modus operandi involved appointing contractors for the construction of affordable homes nationwide.
The suspect would bring the contractors for a site visit to the land earmarked for the project and produce documents to prove that the project existed and had received approval from the local authorities.
This was done to convince the contractors, he said.
Amar said the victims deceived by the suspect had paid a performance bond of between RM300,000 and RM2.3 million in the name of the cooperatives.
“Once payment was made, the victim then signed a joint venture agreement prepared by the cooperatives and promised that construction work would commence within 18 months.
“However, after 18 months, the victims (contractors) did not receive any instruction to commence work.
“After investigating, they learned that the promised projects did not exist.”
Amar said the suspect was still under remand for further investigations.
He did not rule out more individuals being detained in the near future to assist in the investigations under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
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