KUALA LUMPUR – Fashion influencer Vivy Yusof, the entrepreneur behind Malaysia’s luxury scarf brand dUCk, and her husband pleaded not guilty on Dec 5 to alleged misuse of funds invested in their company by two government-linked firms.

Vivy and Fadzarudin Shah Anuar, both 36, allegedly transferred RM8 million (S$2.41 million) in August 2018 from the accounts of online fashion retailer FashionValet to 30 Maple Sdn Bhd, the parent company of dUCk – without the approval of FashionValet’s board of directors.

The couple hold a stake in FashionValet – which they co-founded – and the online fashion retailer owns 30 Maple. The investors of FashionValet included Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and state-owned asset manager Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB).

Vivy and Fadzarudin were charged with criminal breach of trust on Dec 5. The prosecution told the court that the couple will be served with a second charge at a later date yet to be fixed.

They did not provide more details, only saying that the second charge would be under Section 403 of the Penal Code. This deals with dishonest misappropriation of property.

If found guilty of criminal breach of trust, they may be sentenced to a maximum prison term of 20 years, caning, and a fine, according to the charge sheet. Under civil law, women are exempted from caning.

Their bail was set at RM100,000 each. The case will be mentioned on Jan 22.

Khazanah and PNB had lost a total of RM43.9 million after pouring RM47 million into FashionValet’s e-commerce platform six years ago.

On Nov 2, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is Khazanah chairman, ordered the sovereign wealth fund to probe the losses.

This was after the Finance Ministry had said in a written reply to parliamentary questions on Oct 28 that the two entities invested RM47 million in 2018, and sold their stakes in 2023 for RM3.1 million.

After the loss-making investments sparked public outcry, Vivy and Fadzarudin announced on Nov 1 their resignation from FashionValet.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on Nov 4 raided the offices of FashionValet, the Finance Ministry, Khazanah and PNB. The commission said on Nov 7 that it had found several suspicious transactions in its investigation into the investment deal, from 2018 to 2023.

The scarves sold by dUCk, favoured by many Malaysian women, are often seen as the country’s answer to Hermes designer silk scarves.

A chiffon tudung with Swarovski crystals on the brand’s website costs RM400. Others are priced around RM250 – a hefty sum in Malaysia, where one could buy a hijab for RM10 elsewhere.

But local media reports have said that dUCk’s most expensive scarves in the past sold for around RM800 to RM2,500.