Consultant arrested for RM400,000 in false claims to state government agency

KOTA KINABALU: A consultant has been arrested for allegedly submitting claims to a state government agency worth more than RM400,000 using documents containing false information.

The suspect is in his 50s and is believed to have submitted the claims involving the supply of machinery to entrepreneurs under the Small and Medium Industry Assistance Programme.

Sources said the suspect had made the claim sometime last year, but his company did not supply the machinery.

A source said that the man was arrested at around 12.30pm on Wednesday (March 13) when he was summoned to the Sabah Anti-Corruption Commission office to record his statement.

Sabah MACC chief Datuk S. Karunanithy confirmed the arrest.

He said the suspect would be brought to the Kota Kinabalu Magistrate Court for remand application purposes.

The case is being investigated under Sections 17 and 18 of the MACC Act 2009.

The arrest came amid allegations made in a blog that senior civil servants in the Sabah Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry were being investigated over the alleged conflict of interest in the issuance of contracts for Small Medium Enterprise (SME) into the issuance of grants.

Last Saturday (March 9), its minister, Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe, said that he was unaware of the probe or the claims that MACC had raided the state ministry’s office and seized documents.

He added that he would let the MACC handle the matter.