MACC nabs 2 in Tabung Haji RCI probes; Bersih urges N Sembilan MB to step up check and balance

 

MACC - Tabung Haji RCI 

• The MACC has arrested two individuals following its investigation into the royal commission of inquiry report on Tabung Haji, which was declassified last week.

  One case saw the graft busters arresting the director of a design firm for allegedly giving free renovations worth RM300,000 on four houses belonging to the statutory body’s former chief operating officer as kickbacks to secure projects.

  

  According to Free Malaysia Today, the suspect in his 50s, who was arrested last night after giving his statement at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya, will be remanded until tomorrow and is suspected of committing the alleged offence between 2014 and 2018.

• Meanwhile, Bernama also reported that MACC had detained the former estate manager of a rubber sapling supply company in the Klang Valley on suspicion of misappropriating a sapling supply contract worth approximately RM8 million in a second case related to the Tabung Haji RCI report.

  The man in his 50s, who is suspected of embezzling the contract intended for a subsidiary involved in the plantation sector, was similarly arrested last night at the MACC’s headquarters after providing his statement.

  The suspect, who is believed to have committed the act between 2015 and 2017, is under remand for three days until Aug 6. 
  

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Governance

• Bersih chairperson Faisal Abdul Aziz has urged the newly minted Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Ismail Lasim to strengthen the state assembly’s role in performing checks and balances, rather than pursuing the idea of creating the deputy exco post.

  He said this after Ismail reportedly mooted the idea as a way to strengthen the state administration.

  

  Bersih chairperson Faisal Abdul Aziz

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  Faisal advocated enhancing the state’s public accounts committee instead, and following Selangor’s lead in creating select committees based on excos’ portfolios.

  This allows government and opposition assemblypersons to play a bigger role in performing checks and balances, and ensuring excos perform their jobs effectively and with integrity.

Drug trafficking 

• Three Malaysians face up to 15 years in prison and a 1.5 million baht (RM183,000) fine in Thailand after being charged with possessing and trafficking 87kg of methamphetamine allegedly meant to be smuggled into Malaysia.

  The trio were arrested at Hat Yai railway station in Songkhla on July 31 after authorities found the drugs concealed in three suitcases and three backpacks, according to Region 9 Office of the Narcotics Control Board director Ratchapon Palakul, who said the suspects had travelled by train from Bangkok to Hat Yai.

  

  “Initial investigations found that one of the suspects admitted to being offered RM8,000 each by a syndicate to smuggle the drugs,” he said, according to Bernama.

  Authorities are reportedly continuing investigations to identify the mastermind and other members of the cross-border drug trafficking syndicate. - Mkini