SHAH ALAM, March 4 — Singer Noraniza Idris lodged a police report today after her murukku business suffered nearly RM630,000 in losses, allegedly due to fraud by a company operating under a local entrepreneurship academy.
Speaking to the press, she said she became aware of the matter when the company failed to make payments despite taking 20,000 packs of products since both parties signed the collaboration agreement in May last year.
The losses included the cost of a specialised murukku-making machine, label printers, packaging, and salaries for 20 employees.
“It all started when the academy approached me with a proposal to use my product for their corporate social responsibility programme. I agreed to provide 5,000 packs of murukku every month to support their initiative.
“I started sensing something was wrong in June last year when they kept giving excuses every time I asked about payments. They also breached the agreement by only paying around RM3,000 in instalments,” Noraniza said after lodging the report at the Shah Alam district police headquarters today.
As a result, she had to lay off 10 employees as she could no longer afford to pay their salaries.
“I hope those involved will step forward and provide answers. I am determined to file this police report so that we can at least reclaim our rights and help prevent others from being deceived by the academy,” Noraniza said.
She also expressed her disappointment over the incident, as it has emotionally affected her family, who have worked hard to build the snack company over the past year.
“When this happened, I felt sorry for my children. They sacrificed their time, staying up late at night to ensure the factory continued running,” Noraniza said.
— Bernama
