Malaysian cosmetics millionaire 'murdered' and thrown in river, police claim

Malaysian police believe a missing cosmetics millionaire and three of her associates were murdered and their bodies burnt, with their ashes thrown into a river.

Sosilawati Lawiya, 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 town in the state of Selangor.

"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 south-western part of the state," Criminal Investigations Department head Bakri Zinin said.

"Police have detained eight suspects in the case and they provided information that led us to the location where the remains were found.

"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 Bakri added that 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 allegedly burnt.

He said the lawyer, who was handling a land deal for Ms Sosilawati, was also being investigated over the disappearance of four other people.

Before 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.

Ms Sosilawati's disappearance has been on the front pages of local newspapers for the past week as police carried out a nationwide search for her amid fears that she had been abducted and murdered.