PUTRAJAYA, Dec 17 — Four men were arrested by the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) for impersonating as its senior officers and also as deputy public prosecutor to solicit bribes, purportedly to help settle cases being investigated by the commission.
Three of them, including the master-mind, known as “Dato Roy”, who claimed to be a MACC director, were arrested in an operation at a hotel here at about ut 4.30pm yesterday.
The fourth suspect was arrested at his house in Melaka at 8.30pm yesterday.
The four suspects, aged between 39 and 54, included a company owner and a company director. They are in remand for six days until December 22 to facilitate MACC’s investigation.
The remand order was issued today by Magistrate Shah Wira Abdul Halim here.
According to a MACC source, the four men were said to have solicited bribe allegedly to change to a lighter offence the charge made against the complainant in the case, as well as to lift the freeze on their bank accounts that were frozen by the commission.
“Intelligence results found that members of the group enter the compound of the MACC headquarters to take pictures of them to convince victims that they are MACC officers,” said the source, adding that their movement was recorded by the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the MACC headquarters.
The source said the MACC has ascertained the identity of a woman who is a member of the group to assist in the investigation and is tracking her down.
MACC Intelligence director Datuk Azmi Kamaruzaman, who confirmed the arrest, said the case is being investigated under Section 16 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act.
He advised the public to be wary of individuals impersonating as MACC officers to solicit bribes purportedly to help to solve MACC cases.
— Bernama
