Sentencing of couple who stole money from MH370 victims
(Baonghean.vn) - Malaysian police have charged a couple with stealing about 35,000 USD from the bank accounts of four passengers who went missing on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Nur Shila Kanan, 33, an HSBC employee, faces 12 charges after allegedly transferring money between customer accounts, said Izany Abdul Ghany, assistant public prosecutor of the Kuala Lumpur Commercial Crime Investigation Department. Nur Shila's husband, Basheer Ahmad Maula Sahul Hameed, 33, a mechanic, faces four charges for using a debit card and other cards belonging to a passenger on the flight to withdraw money from an ATM. A sum of money is believed to have been transferred to a fifth account, belonging to a Pakistani man named Ali Faran Khan, who is still being sought by police. The couple were arrested on Thursday after police were alerted to the fraudulent transactions by an HSBC employee. Both deny the charges. They have been released on bail on condition they surrender their passports. The next hearing will be on August 25, according to national news agency Bernama.
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| New search area map. Red dashed circle: old search area. Yellow and dark blue areas: new search focus area |
Specifically, Nur Shila is accused of transferring US$12,600 from the account of Malaysian passenger Hue Pui Heng to the account of Chinese passenger Tian Jun Wei between May 14 and July 8. Nur Shila is accused of using fake documents to register a new debit card in Tian's name, then making transfers from the savings accounts of Chinese passenger Ju Kun and Malaysian flight attendant Tan Size Hiang. The first illegal transaction was made two months after the disappearance of flight MH370 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
The search for the crashed plane is still ongoing. The next search operation will take place in September, under the responsibility of the Dutch company Furgo Survey appointed by the Australian government. The search area is expected to be narrowed down to a new location, with a search area of 60,000 square kilometers and down to a depth of 7,000 meters. (CNN reported on August 21)
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