Malaysia Securities Commission reports court sentencing former CIMB investment banker to two years’ imprisonment and MYR1 million fine for securities fraud and unlicensed fund management

The Malaysia Securities Commission (SC) announced that the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court sentenced former CIMB Investment Bank associate director Ruwan Amaresh Shaun Ponniah to two years’ imprisonment and a MYR1 million fine, in default six months’ imprisonment, for securities fraud involving MYR201,000. A separate two-year imprisonment term for holding himself out as carrying on fund management without being licensed or registered was ordered to run concurrently, with the jail term taking effect from his arrest date. Ponniah pleaded guilty to one charge under section 179(b) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA), and the court took into consideration nine other similar charges under section 171A of the Criminal Procedure Code. The case involved false representations to seven investors that their monies would be invested in shares listed on Malaysian and foreign stock exchanges, with the funds instead used for other purposes without the investors’ knowledge; it also involved an offence under section 58(1) of the CMSA relating to unlicensed fund management, a regulated activity under Schedule 2 of the CMSA. The offences occurred between October 2018 and June 2020, and the guilty plea was made pursuant to a plea bargain application. The SC noted that Ponniah was arrested and charged on 18 September 2024 and remained remanded after being unable to post bail that was reduced from MYR210,000 to MYR105,000, and it urged the public to check the legitimacy of investment offers using its Investment Checker.