Taking action: Azam being interviewed by members of the media after officiating the roundtable in Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will investigate 20 projects under Menteri Besar Selangor Incorporated (MBI) believed to be involved in corrupt activities.
MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the state-run projects are part of the investigations linked to a certain Selangor politician, before he is called up.
“We are going to check 20 projects involving the state which we have been informed have involved bribes,” he said.
“These are projects which have to do with state interests and are not linked to the current Selangor Mentri Besar.
“We need to wrap up our investigations and collect the evidence before we call the said politician.
“We do not know if there are other Selangor politicians involved,” added Azam.
He said this to the media after officiating a roundtable for commercial banks organised by MACC yesterday.
He declined to identify the politician in question.
Azam further said that the former chief operating officer (COO) of MBI had been remanded for a week starting yesterday over the MBI-linked case, but on another issue.The former top official was rearrested yesterday. He had been remanded for one day after his arrest last week and released for health reasons.
Azam also said MACC found RM600,000 in a residential property in the Klang Valley, suspected to be linked to the politician.
“We had arrested two people connected to the MBI case prior to this, and the other is still in remand for five days which I announced yesterday.
“On the latest development in the MBI case, six more premises were raided by MACC.
“We are also looking into five companies that allegedly have shares in the companies, which involved the ones we arrested and the politician.
“The premises we have raided do not belong to the suspects and some are rented houses.
“If we are to call in anyone to give statements, we have to do our work. I cannot say how long it will be before we call the politician.
“I have advised my officers to only call up the politician when the evidence is sufficient.
“So far, 18 individuals have been called up to give statements,” said Azam.
He added that there would be more arrests connected to this issue.
On Sunday, MACC raided an apartment unit, said to be a politician’s “safe house”, and seized about RM5mil in foreign currency.
This raid follows the detention of two individuals, including a former senior executive of MBI, on Oct 10 in connection with a corruption case related to a sand mining concession.
Azam also refuted allegations that the MBI-linked investigations are politically motivated.
“We are merely doing our work based on information, either through informants, whistleblowers or sources which we collect from different parties.
“The public sector manages public funds. Therefore we do not need a complainant to make a report if MACC has decided that there is a reason to conduct investigations,” said Azam.
He also clarified that he has never used the term “safe house” to refer to the premises raided by MACC in the MBI-related case.
“That term was only used by the intelligence community,” said Azam.
