A real estate company director pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur today to abetment in a criminal breach of trust (CBT) case involving land acquisition deposits of over RM10 million.

Cheah Theam Kheng, 85, a company director of City Centre Sdn Bhd, allegedly abetted a lawyer in the CBT involving RM10,354,663.16 of RM10,560,000 which had been entrusted to them.

The money was meant as refundable earnest deposit from a company, Beyond Hallmark Sdn Bhd to Cheah for the purchase of City Centre's lands as stated in their Memorandum of Agreement dated Dec 20, 2014.

The octogenarian who was led by police officers to the dock, was charged with committing the offence at Messrs Megat Najmuddin Leong & Co, Advocates andSolicitors, 102 Jalan Bangsar near Kuala Lumpur, on Dec 11, 2014, and Jan 16, 2015.

Judge Mat Ghani Abdullah set bail at RM30,000 with one surety for the accused in consideration of his age and his unlikelihood to abscond.

The court also ordered the accused's passport to be impounded and fixed Oct 17 for re-mention.

Earlier, Cheah, who was unrepresented, had mitigated for a lower bail sum, telling the court that he only had RM20,000 and that he had voluntarily turned himself in at the Seri Petaling police station this morning.

Deputy public prosecutor Lailawati Ali prosecuted.

- Bernama