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PUTRAJAYA: Three members of a family have been arrested for allegedly receiving money to speed up appeals by fishing boat owners to reduce their compounds.
All three, including a division director in a government department, have been sent to pretrial detention for four days by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Justice Shah Wira Abdul Halim allowed the MACC application to return the trio on Tuesday (September 15).
The other two suspects are the director’s daughter and son-in-law.
The three, ages 32 to 59, were arrested at MACC headquarters on Monday (September 14) when they were summoned to give their statements.
Sources said the suspects were believed to have received bribes of between RM500 and RM2,000 from fishing boat owners as a reward for speeding up investigations and reducing their compounds for committing crimes under the Fisheries Act.
The “assistance” provided includes ensuring that seized vessels are also released.
“Once this was done, it was said that the money had been deposited into the account of the daughter (of the director),” said a source.
MACC investigators are also known to have seized more than RM21,000 in cash, jewelry and luxury watches.
Putrajaya MACC director Hasbilah Mohamad Salleh confirmed the arrests.
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