PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today set July 7 to hear the appeals by 14 individuals, including two brothers of businessman, Nicky Liow Soon Hee, to be freed from the charges of being involved in the organised crime group known as "Nicky Gang".

The court's three-member panel led by Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said set the date after allowing the application from lawyer Datuk Rajpal Singh to postpone today's hearing.

The two other judges were Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Datuk Nordin Hassan.

On Sept 30 last year, the Shah Alam High Court gave a discharge not amounting to an acquittal to the 14 individuals, including four Chinese nationals, from the charges.

Judge Datuk Abd Halim Aman made the decision following the application of the prosecution to release all the accused without being acquitted as the prosecution intends to pursue the charges in future.

The 14 individuals, however, filed an application for release without being acquitted.


Earlier, Rajpal, who represented 13 of the appellants, requested a postponement of the hearing as he was waiting for the development of another case at the Federal Court involving a woman who was acquitted and discharged from a charge of murdering an Indonesian maid, which to is heard on June 23.

"The development of the case is vital as it is linked with the appeals to be submitted before you, Your Honour. Hence, I would like to request a new date for the hearing of this case," he said. The other appellant was represented by lawyer Jasmine Chong.

Two of the accused are the younger brothers of Nicky namely Datuk Liow Wei Kin and Datuk Liow Wei Loon while the other accused are Lee Han Keat, Lee Kam Onn, Datuk Lee Kum Weng, Eee Eng Chee, Dr Jovian Joris Tan Chern Chian, Datuk Loo Siew Chin, Lim Kang Li, Datuk Seri Andrew Lim Kim Ming as well as four Chinese nationals, Huang Lei, Wang Yu Jun, Gu Xing Qiong as well as Jiang Xue, aged between 20's to 56.

According to the charge, the 13 were accused of being members of the organised crime group, Nicky Gang in the area of SetiaWalk, Persiaran Wawasan, Pusat Bandar Puchong, between Jan 1, 2017, and March 20, 2021.

They were charged under Section 130V(1) of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum of 20 years in jail if found guilty.

Meanwhile, Kim Ming was accused of assisting the same criminal group at SetiaWalk, Persiaran Wawasan, Pusat Bandar Puchong, here between Jan 1, 2017, and March 29, 2021, under Section 130W of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum of 10 years imprisonment upon conviction.

-- BERNAMA