Sugarbook CEO claims local media misled people regarding his arrest warrant

Online dating platform Sugarbook‘s founder and CEO Darren Chan has refuted local media reports claiming that he was arrested after he had failed to appear at the Malaysian court on Friday last week.

Sugarbook founder Darren Chan/ Photo credit: Sugarbook

Chan was summoned by the Magistrate’s Court in Malaysia on March 26 for court mention and document submission.

Aside from stating that the founder had failed to appear in court, the reports also mentioned that neither his lawyer nor his bailor were present for document submission.

In a statement, Chan said that he was present at the appointed time, and that the magistrate revoked the arrest warrant against him on account of a “technical glitch” regarding the scheduling process.

Earlier in February, the executive was charged over the publication of a post about sugar baby universities in the country, allegedly with the intention to cause fear or unrest to the public.

“We had hoped that the Malaysian media would have given us the opportunity to clarify the situation before releasing news that has now misled the people,” said Chan. “Moving forward, we will continue to cooperate with the authorities in their investigation to the best of our capabilities.”

The development comes amid reports that the Malaysian government is mulling a ban on Sugarbook to prevent the youth from “getting involved in immoral activities.”

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The dating platform has seen a 40% surge in sign-ups, which has been attributed to students allegedly turning to “sugar dating” to fund their expenses, including tuition fees and household needs, what with the ongoing Covid-19 crisis making it more difficult to afford higher education.