KUCHING, July 24: Five individuals, including two senior assistant directors of the National Civics Bureau, have been arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for allegedly making false claims totalling RM600,000.
The suspects, three men and two women, aged between 34 and 55, were arrested around 4.30pm after they gave their statements at the Sarawak MACC headquarters here today.
Three of the individuals had served with the state National Civics Bureau before they were transferred to other departments or retired.
According to an MACC source, they were believed to have conspired with 43 companies across Sarawak by producing fraudulent work claims.
The source said each claim could amount to between RM2,000 and RM6,000. All payments were made to the accounts of several companies in 2016, and the five suspects were believed to have profited from the companies they had picked.
“Investigations found that about 70 per cent of the services and supplies provided by the said companies to the National Civics Bureau did not exist or were not carried out in the said time frame,” the source continued.
It is understood that all five suspects, who had access to the bureau’s bank account, utilised the funds for personal use.
State MACC director Razim Mohd Noor confirmed the arrests. When contacted, he said the commission was in the process of attaining documents relating to the claims payment.
He added that the five suspects had been detained under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009 to facilitate investigations. All the suspects will be produced at the Kuching Magistrate Court tomorrow (July 25) for remand. — DayakDaily
