Police arrested JJPTR founder Johnson Lee (second from left) and his two senior aides in Petaling Jaya May 16, 2017.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — Punters in the JJPTR scheme that is under police investigation will not be called up unless they lodge reports, Penang police have said.

Penang police chief Comm Datuk Chuah Ghee Lye said the state police will also wait for instructions from federal police before taking further action.

“We won’t jump the gun. We will wait and see the outcome of the investigations on JJPTR.

“There is no reason for us to call up investors to record statements, unless they come to us and make a complaint,” he was quoted saying by local daily The Star.

Chuah said the Inspector-General of Police has given a three-month period for investigations on JJPTR and noted that Bank Negara Malaysia is playing an active role in the probe.

Yesterday, police arrested JJPTR founder Johnson Lee and his two senior aides at about 4.30am in Petaling Jaya and obtained a court order to remand them for three days.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani yesterday said police have seized a car, five mobile phones, various documents related to the scheme, a cheque book, 11 debit and credit cards and RM20,936 in cash.

According to The Star, he said two investigation papers have been opened for the Penang-based money game scheme following five police reports.

He said the investigations are under Section 420 of the Penal Code for the offence of cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, which comes with a penalty of minimum one-year to maximum ten-year jail term, whipping and a fine.

“We are aware of other scams and are in the process of busting them,” he said in a warning to other get-rich-quick scams.

The arrest comes after a joint raid by government agencies including the police on eight JJPTR offices, which led to the arrest of 15 staff members and four investors.

The raid saw seven computers, cash counting machines, documents, televisions, close-circuit television cameras and RM3,300 seized.

The Star said the offices of JJPTR in Penang are still closed and that there were no employees or “investors” spotted, while “investors” told the paper that they do not believe they will get their money back.

According to The Star, two Facebook pages linked to JJPTR has been taken down and other Facebook pages previously assuring “investors” that they will get their money returned have stopped posting such new videos after police froze five JJPTR bank accounts.

It said Berjaya Times Square that JJPTR had booked for its vegetarian dinner banquet this Saturday confirmed that the dinner was not cancelled.

JJPTR, a foreign exchange trading firm said to have been active for a year, and its affiliated JJ Poor to Rich and JJ Global Network were listed on February 24 on Bank Negara Malaysia’s website as unauthorised and unapproved companies.

The central bank had on its website advised the public to not deal with or be involved in such illegal financial service providers, warning that they would not be covered by consumer protection laws and that they may even be charged with aiding the illegal operators.

Prior to the government crackdown, Lee had claimed that RM1.7 billion of money contributed by the “investors” was lost to a purported hacking and had promised to return the money within five years’ time.