Koperasi Telekom lost RM23 million due to fraud, says report

© Provided by MToday News Sdn Bhd datuk-maccPETALING JAYA: The four men, all “Datuks”, who were remanded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) are linked to fraud and abuse that had resulted in Koperasi Telekom Malaysia (Kotamas) losing up to RM23 million, The Star reported.

Three of the four with the “Datuk” title are the chairman, secretary and treasurer of the cooperative organisation, while the other is a supply company owner.

Two other people who were remanded with the four, are a board member of Kotamas and his wife, who is a civil servant.

Sources told the daily that the cooperative’s deals with the supply company was “unusual”, with investigators also discovering that it was the only vendor for Kotamas since 2015.

“Having just one vendor makes it easy for the officials to arrange for kickbacks which we believe was very substantial.

“We have managed to uncover their modus operandi,” a source told The Star.

It is believed that Kotamas incurred millions of ringgit in losses after the supply company had received advance funds but was not “diligent” in paying the cooperative.

Following their arrest on Tuesday, the MACC managed to obtain the remand order to hold the six suspects for five days for investigations.

Telekom Malaysia (TM) has meanwhile, denied that Kotamas was part of the telecommunications group, saying it was a non-TM entity.

“The cooperative, whose members comprise current and former TM employees, is run by its own appointed management.

“TM is not involved in the management and business or operations of Kotamas,” TM said in a statement yesterday, adding that it has a zero tolerance policy towards any form of illegal activity and will take appropriate internal action if any of its employees are involved.

TM said the company supported MACC’s actions to wipe out corruption and will cooperate in the investigation.