KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will summon more individuals for questioning in connection with bribery allegations involving a former political secretary to a former home minister and three businessmen.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said they would also open several investigation papers, one for each company and contractor that secured tenders in the Home Ministry, from which the suspects allegedly received money.
"They are allegedly involved in soliciting and receiving money from contractors involved in Home Ministry projects.
"There are many aspects we need to investigate regarding the money they received. The money appears to have been invested in properties such as cars. Therefore, we need to verify the ownership of the luxury cars and check whether the assets are legitimate.
"That's why we seized all the cars, and we will compel them to declare their assets and disclose their sources of income," he said to the New Straits Times.
On Wednesday, the MACC detained four businessmen on suspicion of receiving bribes from several companies and contractors that secured tenders in a ministry.
Among the four are a former political secretary to a former minister and a 'Datuk Seri'.
According to a source, the arrests of the four suspects were made after the main suspect, who previously served as a political secretary to a former minister, allegedly requested and received bribes to ensure that the supply tenders in a ministry were awarded to certain contractors.
The suspects were alleged to have received bribes from companies that were awarded contracts worth millions of ringgit for works between 2020 and 2021.
MACC had also seized several luxury vehicles owned by the suspects. It is believed that the vehicles were purchased using bribe money collected by the suspects.
The vehicles are Ghost V12 Ewb, Mercedes-Benz G63 Amg Brabus, Range Rover Autobiography, Porche Cayenne, Toyota Land Cruiser, Mini Cooper Works Rhd, Toyota Alphard, Toyota Vellfire and Mercedes-Benz S400L.
Yesterday, the Putrajaya magistrate's court granted a three-day extension to the remand of two of the suspects which would expire on Tuesday next week.