Remand of four individuals in infrastructure corruption case extended

KOTA KINABALU: The remand of four individuals for alleged corruption involving a transport infrastructure project in Sabah has been extended for another three days.
The remand order was issued today by magistrate Cindy Mc Juce Balitus after hearing the application from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) prosecutor officer, Mohd Faliq Basirudin.
The four individuals were a deputy director of a government department, two assistant engineers in the department while the other was a director of the company responsible for implementing the project.
The four individuals, aged between 37 and 58 years, were detained by the MACC on Monday, and remanded for seven days to assist investigation into the case under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act 2009.
Following their arrest, the MACC seized several vehicles and cash from their houses and froze several bank accounts.
The three officers in the government department were believed to have received a bribe of more than RM3 million from the contractor of the transport infrastructure project since 2011.
According to sources, the government department had awarded maintenance and emergency projects to 27 companies since 2011.
However, the project was implemented by one company which used the licence of other companies, and each company which 'lended' their licence received a commission of between 5 to 10% of the actual value of each project.
Meanwhile, at the same proceeding the court allowed the remand of another individual, who was also the owner of a company for five days, to assist in the investigation of the corruption case.
The 60-year-old individual was arrested at the Sabah MACC office yesterday when he came to make a statement. The suspect was the fifth individual arrested.
Sources said the individual was believed to have used the licence of several companies, including three belonging to his wife and children to get the projects, and bribed the government officers in return for the project.
The MACC found RM1.6 million in cash when ransacking the houses of the four individuals on Jan 24. All the money has been seized for further investigation. — Bernama