KOTA KINABALU: Graft-busters have nabbed three enforcement officers here over an alleged RM300,000 bribe following a passport renewal syndicate bust here, recently.
The suspects were believed to have received some RM300,000 from the syndicate that is said to have been active since 2023.
These arrests come as part of Ops Terbang, the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) operation following a month’s investigation into this case.
According to sources, all three suspects are men aged in their 40s and 50s and all were arrested at about 2pm Thursday (July 17), after giving their statements at the MACC office here.
“The initial investigation found that at least 100 applicants were involved in this case,” the source said, adding that each suspect allegedly received RM3,000 for every application processed.
From this, the syndicate members were said to forge the signatures of applicants and manipulated the thumbprint system where if according to proper procedures, an applicant must be present to collect their approved passports.
The officer involved would then pass the processed passport to a middleman without the presence of the actual applicant, the sources said.
It is learnt that the bribe money or ‘processing fees’ would be transferred from an agent to one of the officer’s bank accounts, and that officer would later distribute the money to his accomplices.
Sabah MACC director Datuk S. Karunanithy confirmed the arrests and said that the case is being investigated under the MACC Act 2009.
“All suspects would be taken to the Kota Kinabalu court to get a remand order,” he said, adding there could be more arrests soon.
