Disappearing act: Suspect out on MACC bail vanishes to avoid cops

PUTRAJAYA: A suspected member of an online gambling and Macau scam syndicate who was out on Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) bail disappeared to avoid being rearrested by the police.

The suspect and eight other individuals who had been remanded for a few days were taken to the Magistrate's Court on Oct 11 to be released and then brought back to MACC headquarters to settle bail and other documentation.

Sources said upon seeing the presence of police officers at the MACC premises, the suspects had refused to leave their vehicles.

The police were there to rearrest the suspects to help in their investigations into the same case.

The source said after a discussion between MACC officers, police and the suspects' lawyers, the police to agreed to wait outside the main gate of the MACC headquarters.

After completing the bail and documentation process, all the suspects were released and boarded four luxury MPVs to leave.

“All vehicles would have to pass the main gate, where the suspects were rearrested by the police, ” the source told The Star on Thursday (Oct 15).

The source said one of the suspects was handed over to his lawyer after his bail process was completed and they were seen getting into the MPV.

"However, along the journey to the main gate, the suspect could have gotten out of the vehicle and fled with the help of two other bodyguards to avoid being rearrested by the police," said the source.

Police stopped the vehicle he was supposed to be in and could not find him.

CCTV footage showed that he had climbed over a side gate with the help of the two bodyguards and another car was seen waiting by the roadside to help him flee the scene.

The MACC had questioned more than a dozen people, including senior police officers in its investigations into an online gambling and Macau scam syndicate, believed to have received protection from certain authorities.

Hundreds of accounts with millions of ringgit have been frozen while a fleet of luxury cars have been seized in the course of the investigation.