'DATUK SERI' in driving seat of fraud involving luxury cars

KUALA LUMPUR - A "Datuk Seri" is in the driver's seat of a fraud involving sale of 120 luxury vehicles, with losses amounting to RM10 million.

Home Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the suspect, in his 40s, was detained by the police to facilitate investigations last month.

However, he said the court had rejected a remand order against the man.

Preliminary investigations revealed the man would promise the owner of a luxury car to find a buyer for the vehicle but would instead, using fake documents and identity cards, continue payment on the car without the owner's approval.

Wan Junaidi said the suspect's automobile company which was registered under his wife and daughter operated here to sell such cars to third parties.

"To date, we have recovered 24 of the vehicles in question, including Toyota Vellfire, Toyota Alphard, Mercedes Benz and BMW," he told a media conference at the Parliament lobby here today.

Wan Junaidi was commenting on allegations by several owners of luxury vehicles in a memorandum to him at the Parliament lobby yesterday on cases of cheating in the sales of luxury cars, using fake documents.

"If the vehicles could not be sold, the man would keep the car for a month or two and sell the car again to used-car dealers," he said, adding fake documents and identity cards were used in the buying and selling of the cars.

He said the man would probably face eight charges, including cheating, and the police were finalising their investigation papers before handing them to the attorney-general for further action.

He advised car owners, specifically those under hire-purchase agreements, against selling them to third parties, except if the finance company approved the transaction. - Bernama