KUALA LUMPUR: EIGHT of the 11 senior Customs officers, including a state director with the title “Datuk”, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in a cigarette and alcohol smuggling syndicate on Sept 3, will face multiple charges in court today.
One suspect is facing at least 53 counts of corruption-related charges, said sources close to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
Sources said each suspect would face charges based on evidence gathered by the MACC investigative squad over the past few years, with the lowest number of charges against one of the officers at 8.
The Datuk will be charged in a court here, while the seven others at a court in Shah Alam.
On Monday, three other officers arrested along with the Datuk and seven others charged today, will also face multiple charges at a court here.
In a second round of arrests on Sept 17, MACC picked up 13 other senior Customs officers, including a state director, also holding the title Datuk.
Yesterday, the 13, aged between 32 and 57, were brought to the Petaling Jaya magistrate’s court at 9.50am in a bus.
Magistrate Ahmad Solihin Abd Wahid ordered all 13 to be remanded for a week to assist in MACC’s investigations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act.
The smuggling syndicate, which had allegedly caused losses of up to RM4 billion in lost tax revenue, has been active for many years.
Investigations revealed that the goods smuggled by the syndicate came from Scotland, Sweden, Indonesia, Thailand, China, India and Cambodia.
The arrests were the result of more than a year of MACC’s intelligence-gathering operation on the suspects.
It is expected to zoom in on two other officers over the next few days, said a source, bringing the number of Customs officers nabbed so far to 28.
So far, 37 individuals have been arrested, including the 28 officers.
The New Straits Times has reported that the officers involved were believed to have been in cahoots with the syndicate, which had been paying each officer “protection money” from as low as RM2,000 to more than RM10,000 every month for years.