MACC arrests Perlis DID senior officer
NATION
Tuesday, 30 Jan 2018
by royce tan and sira habibu
Stacked high: An investigating officer inspecting cash worth RM900,000 discovered in the house of one of the company owners.
PETALING JAYA: He is a senior civil servant but has been living a life of luxury the past few years, allegedly raking in a lucrative side income by awarding projects to crony contractors.
The 60-year-old with the Perlis Drainage and Irrigation Department is now in the custody of anti-graft officers and being probed.
Sources said the high-ranking official is believed to have received kickbacks of up to 10% of the value of the projects awarded by the department between 2014 and last year.
Also arrested during an operation yesterday were two company owners, aged 39 and 50, said to be conspiring with him
During the raids, officers seized about RM900,000 in cash while four bank accounts with a total of RM2.9mil were frozen.
“Initial investigations showed that the senior official had appointed a company which he has interest in to undertake the projects.
Checks also showed a substantial amount transferred to several bank accounts belonging to him and his relatives,” said a source.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Azam Baki said MACC would apply for the remand of the three suspects to assist in investigations.
“We are still in the initial stage. Our officers are now going through the seized documents,” he said yesterday.
The case is being probed for giving and accepting gratification, using an office or position for gratification, and money laundering.
In Kota Baru, while visiting the Kelantan MACC office, Azam said he directed the Perak MACC to seize documents from SM Hutan Melintang in Bagan Datuk related to the construction of a school hall.
On Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi expressed anger over the substandard quality of the RM600,000 hall.
On the ongoing investigations into the Penang undersea tunnel project, Azam said they had called in another 10 witnesses, bringing the total number of people questioned to 76.
In a separate case, the MACC also a arrested a former senior administrative officer and a fake scientist who disguised himself as a professor from a local university over the embezzlement of RM3mil meant for carrying out programmes.
The senior officer, 44, had allegedly misused his power during his tenure at the International Council for Scientific Union Regional Office for Asia Pacific (ICSU-ROAP) under the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM).
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/01/30/macc-arrests-perlis-did-senior-officer-he-allegedly-received-up-to-10-of-each-projects-value-in-kick/#FBZ63cQKjKTLbfke.99
