10 called to graft case witness stand

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will call up at least 10 witnesses over the Bank Rakyat RM15mil graft case, its investigation director Datuk Azam Baki said.

Most of the witnesses are bank employees, he added.

“We hope that the witnesses will give their full cooperation, as this is a high-profile case.”

It was reported that three out of the four people released from custody in connection with the case have been rearrested by the MACC.

Sources said the three included a former procurement director and two others from a publishing company.

They were brought to the Putrajaya magistrate’s court yesterday where they were ordered to be remanded for three days.

The fourth man, the bank’s managing director Datuk Mustafha Abd Razak, 48, who was detained last Thursday, was released earlier and not rearrested.

The procurement director and the other two men, one of whom is the publishing company director, were arrested last Friday.

On Tuesday, Bank Rakyat chairman Jen (rtd) Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal was remanded until Sept 5 in connection with the case.

He was the second person from the same financial institution, the first being Mustafha, to be questioned by the MACC over a multi-million-ringgit book publishing contract and a project to upgrade the bank’s system.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, it is learnt that the MACC was also in the process of questioning witnesses over the alleged abuse of power in a multimillion-ringgit oil pipeline project.

The MACC froze 17 bank accounts, totalling RM5.5mil, over the case and seized a double-storey house, several luxury cars including four Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari and Toyota, as well as two motorcycles.

It is learnt that a total of nine people were arrested while seven were under remand until Saturday.

The managing director of an oil and gas company is alleged to have taken a bribe from a sub-contractor for appointing him and approving a falsified invoice for the RM76mil project.