SHAH ALAM – The Magistrate’s Court here has issued an arrest warrant against founder of Sugarbook application, Chan Eu Boon, 34, after he failed to appear for court mention and document submission today.
Magistrate Sabreena Bakar@Bahari issued the arrrest warrant following a request by deputy public prosecutor, Aliff Asnaf Anuar Sharuddin.
Aliff Asnaf Anuar said the accused’s lawyer and bailor were also not present for document management today.
The court fixed May 15 for the accused to state the reasons for his absence today as well as for the mention of the arrest warrant.
On Feb 24, the accused was charged with publishing statements conducive to public mischief on social media on Feb 10.
According to the charge sheet, the accused was accused of committing the offence on Feb 10, at about 10am by using a website to publish an article entitled ‘Top 10 Sugar Baby University in Malaysia’. The post was seen at a public university here on the same day, at about 6.26pm.
Chan, an information technology entrepreneur, was charged with intent to cause fear or alarm to the public, or any section of the public that any person may be induced to commit an offence against public order through such publication.
He was charged under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code which provides a maximum jail term of two years or a fine, or both, if convicted.
Deputy public prosecutor Aliff Asraf Anuar Sharuddin prosecuted while the accused was represented by lawyers T Shashi Devan and Pauling Hee.
The court set RM10,000 bail in one local surety and ordered the accused to surrender his passport until the disposal of the case.
Re-arrested
The police had earlier rearrested the founder of the Sugarbook dating platform on Feb 18 to facilitate investigations into rape and prostitution cases involving a university student.
This was after the court dismissed an application to remand the 34-year old on the same morning.
Selangor criminal investigation department chief Fadzil Ahmat said the suspect was rearrested in relation to an incident that took place in Subang Jaya on Feb 19, 2019.
“The complainant is a university student,” said Fadzil in a statement.
The suspect’s lawyer Foong Cheng Leong told the media that court deputy registrar Noorasyikin Sahat had rejected the remand application after his client pledged to fully cooperate with the police’s investigation of the case.
The suspect was initially arrested at a condominium in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday (Feb 17).
Following the rejection of the remand application, Fadzil said the prosecution had applied for a review over the magistrate court’s dismissal on the matter.
