Millionaire murdered

Ms Sosilawati Lawiya, 47, the founder of cosmetics brand Nouvelle Visages and three of her associates were murdered, their bodies burnt and ashes thrown into a river. — PHOTO: CHINA PRESS

(AFP) – MALAYSIAN police said on Sunday that missing cosmetics millionaire Sosilawati Lawiya and three of her associates were murdered, their bodies burnt and ashes thrown into a river.

Sosilawati, 47, who founded the popular Nouvelle Visages line of cosmetics in the country, was reported missing on August 30 along with her driver, lawyer and a bank officer, after going to discuss a land deal in a central Selangor state town.

‘I can say that Sosilawati Lawiya and three others are believed to have been murdered and their bodies burnt with ashes strewn in a river near the coast of the southwestern part of the state,’ Criminal Investigations department head Bakri Zinin told AFP.

‘Police have detained eight suspects in the case and they provided information that led us to the location where the remains were found,’ he added.

‘We will have to do a DNA analysis to fully determine the identity of the remains but we are confident these are the remains of the four.’ Mr Barki said one of the detainees was a 38-year-old lawyer who is believed to be the mastermind and who owned the land where the bodies were burnt. He said the lawyer, who was handling a land deal for Sosilawati, was also being investigated over the the disappearance of four other people.

Ahead of police confirmation of her death, the influential Malay-language Utusan Malaysia daily carried a banner headline in its Sunday edition stating ‘Sosilawati was Murdered”, quoting police sources.

Sosilawati’s mysterious disappearance has been on the front pages local newspapers for the last week as police carried out a nationwide search for the tycoon amid fears that she had been abducted and murdered.