KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has called 27 witnesses, including workers, import agents and government officers, to have their statements recorded in connection with the frozen meat cartel scandal.

In a statement today, the agency said its investigations were more on the offences under the MACC Act 2009 which are related to accepting bribes, making false claims and document falsification.

"At present, the MACC is still active in analysing the information, gathering evidence and making several more arrests to complete the investigations,” it said.

According to the statement, eight suspects have been remanded to facilitate investigations into the case since January 4.

The statement also said that the Johor MACC had arrested a 36-year-old company director in Johor Baru yesterday and that he had also been remanded for six days to assist in the investigations.

Johor MACC was previously reported to have opened an investigation paper on the smuggling of imported frozen meat scandal under Section 16 and 18 of the MACC Act 2009.

On January 8, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani was also reported to have said that the police were in the midst of recording witness statements on the issue to be submitted to the Attorney-General for further action. — Bernama