A former chief executive officer (CEO) and former chief financial officer (CFO) of a statutory body-owned company have been detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over alleged abuse of power involving the RM370 million acquisition of shares in two plantation companies.
According to a source, the two men, aged 68 and 60, were detained at about 6.30pm on Tuesday after giving statements at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya.
However, both were released later that night due to health reasons and are scheduled to return to the MACC at 10am on Wednesday for further questioning.
The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation by a special task force established by the MACC to examine findings from the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Tabung Haji, which was made public through the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) portal on July 29.
MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Abd Halim Aman confirmed the arrests, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009.
The latest arrests follow the recent detention of a company director accused of bribing a former chief operating officer (COO) of the same statutory body with renovation works worth about RM300,000 in exchange for securing refurbishment contracts.
The director, who is in his 50s, was remanded for two days until August 5. Preliminary investigations revealed that the alleged offences took place between 2014 and 2018 and involved renovation works on four properties belonging to the former COO.
In a separate case linked to the RCI probe, a former plantation manager of a rubber seedling supply company in the Klang Valley was remanded for three days until August 6 over the alleged misappropriation of an RM8 million rubber seedling supply contract involving two plantation companies owned by the statutory body’s subsidiary.
The suspect, also in his 50s, is believed to have committed the offences between 2015 and 2017.
The MACC previously announced the formation of a special task force led by Senior Investigation Division director Datuk Mohd Hafaz Nazar to review the findings of the Tabung Haji RCI.
Last Friday, the commission also deployed eight officers to Tabung Haji’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to examine documents related to the investigation.
