RM5.3mil belonging to four suspects in railway projects frozen

KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has frozen RM5.3mil from four individuals arrested in connection with a probe into railway projects.

A source said the money was from accounts in several banks. The source also said the MACC had issued caveats on several properties suspected of being purchased using bribe money and involving abuse of power.

The source said they had identified six or seven houses worth RM2.7mil that were bought by the suspects and their families in Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Johor.

“For now, we believe that the suspects made claims for emergency repairs on non-existent projects,” the source said.

The source added that the MACC was looking at identifying six more witnesses to facilitate probes into the case.

The source said investigations were still at an early stage and they needed more time to look through the seized items and documents. The cases occurred between 2012 and 2017.

The four suspects – a 58-year-old acting deputy director of a state department and the chief engineer, two senior civil service engineers aged 37 and 39, and a 42-year-old contractor – were remanded for seven days beginning Tuesday.