PUTRAJAYA: Some 33 individuals, including army officers and bank personnel, are likely to be charged in court in three upcoming high profile corruption cases, says the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
These cases are related to the troubled MEX II highway project, a smuggling ring that brought in drugs and cigarettes and a syndicate linked to the approval of RM700mil in loans for civil servants.
Of the 33, nine are involved in the MEX II case, 20 are bank officers who were part of the loans syndicate, while the remaining four are senior military intelligence officers with the Malaysian Defence Intelligence Organisation (MDIO).
Their court charges are among the updates revealed by MACC yesterday in a special media briefing by its chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.
In the MEX II case, nine individuals are likely to be charged with criminal breach of trust and money laundering, Azam said.
They are allegedly linked to transactions involving Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd director Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed, who was slapped with 17 charges on Monday.
“We expect them to be charged by the end of this month,” Azam told reporters.
Abu Sahid had been charged at the Sessions Court with 17 counts of criminal breach of trust and money laundering related to the MEX II highway project.
He faces seven additional charges for misusing the project’s funds.
Besides Abu Sahid, former construction company director Datuk Yap Wee Leong also faces 18 charges over the same project.
Speaking on the loans syndicate, Azam said that the 20 bank officers are expected to be charged for their involvement in in corruption and money laundering.
They will be charged either by the end of this month or early October. The charges will be filed under the MACC Act as part of the agency’s ongoing Ops Sky investigation.
Azam said investigators have also secured an agreement to recover between RM200mil to RM250mil in funds tied to the case.
In January, Ops Sky led to the arrest of more than 10 individuals and the seizure of 4,000 documents, with 98 bank accounts frozen, amounting to over RM17mil.
Regarding the smuggling ring, Azam said the agency had initially arrested 11 individuals, five senior military officers and six civilians, before the investigation papers were submitted to the DPP.
Among those also remanded were two journalists and a foreign woman.
“The decision is that four of the senior officers will be charged in court, while the remaining officer will be referred to the Defence Ministry for disciplinary action, which may include a court martial.”
Earlier reports revealed that MACC had effectively crippled the smuggling ring run by senior army personnel in the south of the country with the arrest of the five officers.
Azam said it has not been decided whether any of the six civilians would be charged in court.
He also stressed that MACC is working closely with the Armed Forces and the Defence Ministry to address concerns about information leaks that could compromise national security.
“The minister and the Armed Forces chief have extended their full cooperation. It is important for the ministry to ensure that such incidents do not recur,” he said.
