KUCHING, Oct 11: The Magistrate’s Court has dismissed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) application to remand four individuals, including two civil servants, in a multi-million ringgit bribery case.
The MACC had detained four individuals, including a government department director, suspected of involvement in giving and receiving bribes amounting to millions of ringgit, including in the form of vehicles and residences.
Two civil servants, a company owner, and an investment trust manager were among those detained.
They were brought before Magistrate Zubaidah Sharkawi by the MACC to seek their remand for further investigation in the case.
The MACC’s remand application requested time to recover relevant documents and obtain relevant bank statements to assist in their investigation. However, the suspects’ lawyers argued that there was no need for the MACC to request and recover these documents.
As a result, Magistrate Zubaidah rejected the remand application by the MACC.
The three male suspects and one woman, aged between their 30s and 50s, were arrested around 7.30 pm at the MACC Sarawak office on Oct 10 when they were summoned to provide statements.
According to information received by the MACC, it is alleged that from 2018 to 2022, one of the suspects, the director of the Rural Water Supply Department of Sarawak (JBALBS), received a bribe in the form of a two-story terrace house in Kuching, Sarawak, valued at RM790,000.
Additionally, they received a cash amount of RM955,000 from a director of a private company.
This was purportedly an incentive to assist the company’s subsidiary in securing an open tender for a project related to the Sarawak Water Supply Grid Programme.
The arrests were made as part of an investigation being conducted under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nik Haslinie prosecuted the case, while the first to third suspects were represented by counsel Sunny Si and Roger Chin, and the fourth suspect was represented by counsel Francis Wee. — DayakDaily
