MACC: 94 branded handbags worth RM500,000 belonged to director’s wife
THE STAR
KOTA KINABALU: The 94 branded handbags, worth half a million ringgit, that were seized by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), belonged to the director’s wife.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki said that the 94 branded handbags, which were valued at about RM500,000 and consisting of brands like Chanel, Burberry, Versace, Hermes and Louis Vuitton, were used by the director’s wife.
However, MACC officers are still trying to establish why two top officials of Sabah Water Department kept a whopping RM53.7mil in cash with them after investigations continue to uncover more stashed wealth in safe deposit boxes.
“We are trying to find why they kept such a large amount of money at home,” said Azam.
The large cash seizure was the biggest ever haul by the MACC in its 49-year history.
On Wednesday, the Commission detained the department’s director and his deputy, a 55-year-old businessman with a “Datuk” title, who is believed to be the brother of the deputy director, and his company accountant in connection with the probe.
They recovered RM114mil including RM53.7mil in cold hard cash that took more than 30 officers 15 hours to count.
Also recovered from the homes and offices of the department’s director and his deputy were nine luxury vehicles, expensive watches, jewellery and 94 high-end handbags.
However, he said that the designer watches and jewellery that were seized have yet to be valued but could be worth a couple of million ringgit.
The 127 properties and land titles found at the deputy director's house were estimated to be worth over RM60mil.
“At the end of the investigations, we might be looking at between RM200mil to RM300mil in total,” he said, adding that the figures do not reflect the salaries of a senior civil servant.
A total of RM3.3mil in cash, including the RM2.5mil recovered from one of the boxes on Wednesday, and jewellery from seven safe deposit boxes were recovered by MACC investigators.
“We recovered about RM800,000 from the last three boxes and a substantial amount of jewellery,” he said, adding that jewellers are valuing their worth.
The duo is under investigations for alleged abuse of power, receiving kickbacks and money laundering in connection with contracts given out by the Water Department for RM3.3bil worth of federal funded projects in Sabah since 2010.
KOTA KINABALU: The 94 branded handbags, worth half a million ringgit, that were seized by the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), belonged to the director’s wife.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki said that the 94 branded handbags, which were valued at about RM500,000 and consisting of brands like Chanel, Burberry, Versace, Hermes and Louis Vuitton, were used by the director’s wife.
However, MACC officers are still trying to establish why two top officials of Sabah Water Department kept a whopping RM53.7mil in cash with them after investigations continue to uncover more stashed wealth in safe deposit boxes.
“We are trying to find why they kept such a large amount of money at home,” said Azam.
The large cash seizure was the biggest ever haul by the MACC in its 49-year history.
On Wednesday, the Commission detained the department’s director and his deputy, a 55-year-old businessman with a “Datuk” title, who is believed to be the brother of the deputy director, and his company accountant in connection with the probe.
They recovered RM114mil including RM53.7mil in cold hard cash that took more than 30 officers 15 hours to count.
Also recovered from the homes and offices of the department’s director and his deputy were nine luxury vehicles, expensive watches, jewellery and 94 high-end handbags.
However, he said that the designer watches and jewellery that were seized have yet to be valued but could be worth a couple of million ringgit.
The 127 properties and land titles found at the deputy director's house were estimated to be worth over RM60mil.
“At the end of the investigations, we might be looking at between RM200mil to RM300mil in total,” he said, adding that the figures do not reflect the salaries of a senior civil servant.
A total of RM3.3mil in cash, including the RM2.5mil recovered from one of the boxes on Wednesday, and jewellery from seven safe deposit boxes were recovered by MACC investigators.
“We recovered about RM800,000 from the last three boxes and a substantial amount of jewellery,” he said, adding that jewellers are valuing their worth.
The duo is under investigations for alleged abuse of power, receiving kickbacks and money laundering in connection with contracts given out by the Water Department for RM3.3bil worth of federal funded projects in Sabah since 2010.
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