PUTRAJAYA – Four individuals, including a company’s director and chief financial officer, were arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) yesterday to assist investigations into irregularities in a sukuk deal worth RM596 million related to a project for the registration, recruitment, and biometric information storage for migrant workers in a ministry.
According to an MACC source, the four men aged between 40 and 55 were arrested late yesterday afternoon at the graft busters’ headquarters here.
Three of them were remanded for three days until Friday after magistrate Irza Zulaikha Rohanuddin granted the anti-graft body’s application at the Putrajaya magistrates’ court today, while the other was released on MACC bail.
According to the source, the sukuk was managed by a local bank to finance the project.
He said all the expenses and earnings of the project had to be put into a designated special account, but this was later changed to another account which was believed to have been deliberately created in early 2022. It is suspected this was done to avoid repayment of the principal and profits to sukuk holders.
The source said the act of creating another account would cause millions in losses to sukuk holders.
It is understood that the concession agreement between the government and the appointed company for the project’s implementation was signed in July 2011 for a period of 12 years, and the sukuk is expected to reach maturity in May this year.
MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki when contacted confirmed the arrests but refused to comment further. – Bernama, March 15, 2023
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