GM and accountant nabbed in RM1.5mil cheating case

- EPA

PETALING JAYA: Anti-graft offi­cers arrested a general manager and an accountant on suspicion of misappropriating RM1.5mil belonging to the management committee of a high-rise condominium in Kuala Lumpur.

They were arrested in an operation codenamed Ops Condo by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commis­sion (MACC) officers in separate raids yesterday.

Both men were believed to have misused the money belonging to the high-rise condominium dwellers since 2010.

The first suspect, the 53-year-old general manager, was detained at his house in Jalan Klang Lama at about 10.30am while the 27-year-old accountant was picked up in Sungai Petani at about 1.30pm.

The accountant was previously hired by the joint management body of the condomi­nium.

It is learnt that the fraud came to light when salaries due to the staff overseeing some 500 condominium units were delayed since the middle of last year.

Both suspects will be held overnight at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya to assist in the investigation. They will be taken to the magistrate’s court in Putrajaya to be remanded today.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki confirmed the arrest of the two men.

Azam said statements have been recorded from several witnesses in relation to the probe. A stack of documents and several laptops were also seized during the raids.

With the latest arrest yesterday, MACC is said to be going after wrongdoers in the private sector after the earlier onslaught against corrupt top civil servants and those in government linked companies.

In Ipoh, a husband and wife naval officers were convicted at the Ipoh Special Corruption Court yesterday for receiving kickbacks amounting to RM420,852 and RM230,011 respectively.

They were found guilty of receiving kickbacks for approving procurement works worth RM1.3mil.

The two had been under probe by the MACC since March 2015 under Ops Sealord.

Judge S. Indra Nehru sentenced Lt-Kdr Rizalman Ghazali, 38, to nine months jail. He was charged with four counts of receiving kickbacks.

The judge ordered the sentence for each of the charge to run concurrently starting from yesterday.

He was also slapped with a RM20,000 fine for each of the charges and in default three months jail.

His wife Lt-Kdr Rozlin Mustafa, 35, was sentenced to six months in jail for two charges that she faced under Section 165 of the Penal Code.

Her sentences are also to run concurrently starting yesterday and she has been fined RM10,000 for each of the charges and in default three months jail.