Former senior official of Iskandar unit pleads guilty to graft charge

December 28, 2011

Map of Iskandar Johor courtesy of www2.iskandarmalaysia.com.my

JOHOR BARU, Dec 28 — An ex-senior vice-president of an Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB) subsidiary pleaded guilty today to a corruption charge, in the latest prosecution of a major crackdown on graft in the government agency tasked with spearheading development in the southern region of the state.

The unnamed man was the second person charged in the Sessions Court here, after the husband of a former senior official in IIB was charged with corruption yesterday for allegedly soliciting RM1.6 million as inducement to obtain a project.

In the latest case, the former official was fined RM20,000, in default two months' jail, after he pleaded guilty.

The 51-year-old man's identity was withheld, as he is assisting the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in several other cases involving the IIB.

He was charged under Section 132(2)(b) of the Companies Act. He paid the fine.

Yesterday, Mohd Amin Suhaimi, 52, claimed trial at the Sessions Court to three counts of soliciting and receiving bribes from construction company Detect Engineering Sdn Bhd to secure the tender for the construction of a boarding school in Pulai.

It is believed the project, sited at Lot PTD Mukim Pulai, is worth some RM40.8 million.

According to previous reports, it is believed Mohd Amin is the husband of Arlida Ariff, formerly IIB’s chief executive officer who was removed late last year amid speculation of alleged irregularities in the awarding of infrastructure contracts.

She was replaced from November 1 last year by DRB-Hicom property chief Datuk Syed Mohamed Syed Ibrahim.

Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which holds 60 per cent equity in IIB, had initiated an audit into the financial management and operations of IIB earlier this year following reports of alleged kickbacks, inflated costs and alleged questionable procurement procedures.

The Malaysian Insider reported on October 8 last year, however, that it was unclear at the time if Arlida was implicated in the audit report.

According to StarBiz on April 11 this year, Arlida had pledged her full cooperation with the authorities in their investigation into alleged fraudulent activities by IIB’s former senior management.

She had also pointed out that during her tenure in IIB, she had performed “to the best of her ability” and was a part of the team that converted the blueprint and vision of the South Johor Economic Region (SJER).

Arlida was headhunted by Khazanah and appointed CEO and president in 2008 to replace the company’s first CEO, Dr Iskandar Ismail.

Arlida first joined IIB in 2007 from her position as executive director of KLCC Projeks Sdn Bhd.

IIB was founded in November 2006 as the South Johor Investment Corporation and has since brought in multibillion-ringgit worth of investments, including the RM750 million Lego Land theme park.