MACC questions senior Yapeim officials as probe over flood funds abuse continues

Tens of thousands of people were displaced by the floods in Kelantan late last year. MACC is investigating allegations that funds for victims have been abused by an agency under the Prime Minister's Department. – AFP file pic, October 16, 2015.Two key figures of the Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation (Yapeim) were called in by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today to record their statements over alleged power abuse and misappropriation of funds allocated for flood relief in Kelantan.

A senior member of the foundation was spotted at MACC's Selangor headquarters in Shah Alam at 9.30am.

He arrived with a companion at the seventh floor, before going up to have their statements recorded, avoiding the media waiting in front of the elevator.

Meanwhile, another man, said to hold a high position in the agency, arrived a few minutes earlier and went straight to the interrogation room.

Their arrival at the MACC office today came a week after the anti-graft body questioned a Kelantan Wanita Umno member.

Sources familiar with the investigation said it was hard to secure the session with the two key figures due to their "busy schedule".

Today's session is expected to last the entire day.

On Wanita Umno member is said to hold a high position in Yapeim, an agency in the Prime Minister’s Department and under the purview of the minister in charge of Islamic affairs.

It is learnt that the MACC probe was focused on alleged misappropriation of funds worth millions of ringgit, abuse of power as well as criminal breach of trust.

It was reported that the anti-graft body is also likely to question the woman’s family members as well as other Yapeim  senior officials.

MACC is also looking at possible abuse of power involving Yapeim funds for a halfway home in the same state.

The floods in Kelantan in December last year were the worst to struck the peninsula, displacing more than 200,000 people.

The waters swept away homes, leaving behind thick layers of mud, and damaged a railway line.

- TMI