KOTA KINABALU: More ‘safehouses’ and monies are in the sights of federal graft busters who have seized millions in cash and nabbed four people in an ongoing probe against a politician for corruption.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the commission also intends to call in the unnamed influential politician to assist in investigations after collecting sufficient evidence.
It was after MACC also seized RM321,000 on Sunday (Oct 13) in addition to RM5mil in foreign currency confiscated on Saturday in the politician’s ‘safe house’ in Kuala Lumpur.
Azam said these safehouses and money are believed linked to alleged bribes in a sand-mining concession in Kuala Lumpur when met after opening an integrity convention at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here on Monday (Oct 14).
He declined to reveal whether the politician involved is currently in government or if there were more politicians involved.
Azam said as of Sunday (Oct 13), the MACC had detained and questioned a total of four people – three men and a woman, and taken statements from some 15 witnesses.
This follows the initial arrest of two suspects and raids on a safe house used by the politician, where about RM5mil in foreign currency was discovered on Saturday (Oct 12).
Azam said the arrests which were first made on Thursday (Oct 10) involved a director of a company followed by a former 45-year-old Mentri Besar Selangor Incorporated official, a former driver, 43, and a 46-year-old woman who is a former financial officer.
He said the driver was only detained a day as he had prostate cancer and two were released on MACC bail on Oct 13 while the company director was still under remand until Oct 15.
He revealed that investigators were also investigating suspected investments and savings being made in Singapore or other banks elsewhere.
On questions about whether there will be others hauled in to facilitate probes, Azam said the possibility was high but that the commission would pursue the case “one step at a time, one person at a time.”
“We are not angels who know everything. So after we get the first suspect and have an admission, then we proceed to the next. We must investigate one by one,” he said.
Earlier in the event, he announced that the MACC had agreed to place an MACC officer at the Sabah Chief Minister’s office as the minister’s integrity advisor as soon as possible.
Azam said this is part of the ongoing commitment between the MACC and the state government to enforce and strengthen graft-fighting initiatives in the state.
He also called upon politicians, officials and personnel from government and private sectors, statutory bodies and administrative level officials to strive towards achieving a good Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
The CPI measures the level of corrupt practices in a country, with Malaysia currently listed at number 57 out of 180 countries surveyed.
“This is not enough, we want to be in the top 25 spot in 10 years,” Azam said.
