Maggie Lindemann had no professional visit pass, says Immigration Dept on arrest of US popstar

KUALA LUMPUR: Singer Maggie Lindemann was arrested on June 21 by Immigration Department officers for performing without proper passes.

Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department director Hamidi Adam confirmed that the pop starlet was detained following a raid at a restaurant in a shopping mall here last month.

"She was arrested for not having a professional visit pass at the time of the performance. She was then detained at Jalan Duta (Immigration KL office) for documentation purposes and was released with bail the next day," he said when contacted on Friday (July 5).

He added that the case has since gone to court.

"The show's organiser has pleaded guilty in court, and was fined RM30,000," he said.

On Thursday (July 4), singer-songwriter Lindemann tweeted her statement regarding the arrest.

She started off by apologising to Malaysian fans who went to her show, saying that "for reasons I can't go into right now", she was detained and arrested midway through her set and then "spent the next 5 days confined in a living hell".

After Malaysia, the Texas-born singer was due to make stops in Vietnam and Singapore, but has since had to cancel those dates.

The Straits Times reported on June 24 that Lindemann cancelled what would have been her debut show in Singapore, citing "unforeseen circumstances". No further reasons were given for the cancellation at the time.