JOHOR BARU: TWELVE out of the 15 Youth and Sports officers who were detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over alleged false claims on a sports programme were being remanded today.
The five-day remand order was issued by magistrate Siti Hajar Ali on the suspects, nine men and three women, who were in their 30s to 50s.
They were remanded under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009 which carried a fine of five times the bribe amount or RM10,000, whichever is higher, and a maximum jail term of 20 years.
Three others, including one woman, were released on MACC bail yesterday.
MACC in a statement said following an arrest on Oct 1, it was found that the suspects were in cahoots with a contractor by making false claims of RM90,000 for the programme in all the districts in Johor.
It said the league, which was supposedly held throughout 2015, never took place.
The suspects, who were attached to the districts’ Youth and Sports offices, were arrested at about 12pm yesterday.