"Auntie" - the woman who reportedly ran an infant-for-sale racket dubbed the 'baby-factory' was charged at the Klang Sessions court Tuesday, along with two of her daughters.

Lim Kim Wan, 56, and her daughters - Ang Bee Ling, 36 and Ang Bee Churn, 31 - pleaded not guilty of being involved in the sale of three baby girls at the Metro Maternity Hospital on Dec 3.

They were jointly charged under Section 14 of the Anti-Trafficking In Persons Act 2007 with arranging to sell the babies born to Kristina and Ninik Rahayu Suhaimi, both Indonesians and Anie Lida, a Filipina.

If found guilty they can be jailed between three and 20 years and also be fined. Their case will be mentioned on Jan 22, 2010.

Lawyer Muhammad Affendy Mohd Yusof who represented all three urged the court to release them on bail.

He said Lim was not in poor health while her daughters had children to take care of. Bee Ling has one child and Bee Churn has six.

Earlier, Deputy public prosecutors Siti Noorbaya Jamil and Aimi Syaswani Sarmin urged the court not to grant bail because of seriousness of the case.

Sessions Court judge Yong Zarida Sazali, however, set bail at RM15,000 each.

The Star reported Monday that the baby-for-sale racket "hired" women from Indonesia, Vietnam and The Philippines and made them have sex with orang asli men for then purpose of producing babies.

The racket, which has reportedly been in operation for about five years, would not pay the "hired" women less than the promised amounts for conceiving and delivering, on the excuse that their babies were not good looking enough.

Police arrested 15 people, including the woman also referred to as "Auntie" and rescued five babies who were about to be sold to childless couples for between RM15,000 and RM20,000.