KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — A design firm director has been taken into custody for allegedly funding lavish home renovations worth RM300,000 for a statutory body’s former chief operating officer (COO) as a kickback to secure lucrative projects.
The arrest was triggered by a deep dive into the royal commission of inquiry report on Tabung Haji, which was declassified last week.
The suspect, a man in his 50s, was nabbed at 7.30pm yesterday while recording a statement at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters. He remains under remand until tomorrow, FMT reported.
“Preliminary investigations found that the suspect orchestrated these acts between 2014 and 2018.
“The suspect is believed to have provided bribes in the form of renovations worth about RM300,000 across four homes belonging to the former COO,” a source was quoted saying.
MACC chief Datuk Seri Abd Halim Aman confirmed the arrest when contacted.
In a separate but related crackdown linked to the same Tabung Haji report, the MACC also arrested a former plantation manager of a rubber seedling supplier in the Klang Valley.
This second suspect, also in his 50s, is accused of misappropriating RM8 million in contracts awarded by a statutory body within the plantation sector.
He was arrested at the MACC headquarters last night and will be remanded until Thursday. According to the source, the offences are believed to have occurred between 2015 and 2017.
