Op Tropicana: MACC probing 'professional enablers' at financial institutions, not banks as a whole

PETALING JAYA: Individuals linked to banks that law enforcers have dubbed "professional enablers" are under the radar of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Following the sentencing of four main suspects in a syndicate that was busted during Op Tropicana, the MACC are now investigating claims of the involvement of these individuals.

"In connection to allegations of five banks being monitored by the MACC for involvement in the cheating syndicate, investigations are focused on the individuals involved and it does not involve the institutions as a whole.

"They are made up of a group of 'professional enablers', including bank officers, accountants and company secretaries that have allowed the syndicate operations to proceed," the MACC said in a statement Saturday (March 18).

It added that efforts to trace down assets and illegal cash that they believe to be in the millions of ringgit are underway with Bank Negara Malaysia and foreign enforcement agencies such as Interpol, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency.

This, they said, was following the sentencing of four of the group's main players in the Shah Alam and Butterworth courts on March 16 and 17, respectively.

On Feb 21, the MACC with the cooperation of other agencies, including the Immigration Department, busted an investment syndicate masterminded by British citizens, following 24 raids and arrest of 81 suspects.

Codenamed Op Tropicana, the raids were conducted simultaneously including at call centres, companies and houses in the Klang Valley and Penang. - Star