A former minister is expected to face three charges of dishonest misappropriation on Monday following an MACC probe linked to the Tabung Haji RCI report.
PETALING JAYA: A former minister is expected to be charged in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Monday with three counts of dishonest misappropriation of property following investigations linked to the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH).
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abd Halim Aman said the Attorney-General’s Chambers had granted consent to prosecute the former minister today.
“Today, we received consent to prosecute from the Attorney-General against the former minister. We recommended three charges under Section 403 of the Penal Code for dishonest misappropriation of property, and consent has been given by the Attorney-General for us to proceed with the prosecution,” he told reporters at the MACC headquarters here.
The former minister, a man in his 60s, was detained on Sept 1 after appearing at the commission’s headquarters in Putrajaya to give a statement.
He was investigated under Section 16(a)(A) of the MACC Act 2009.
His initial five-day remand was extended by another two days before he was released on MACC bail on Sept 8.
The investigation is understood to be linked to a Tabung Haji-related hotel lease agreement in Saudi Arabia.
The TH RCI report, made public on July 29, documented governance lapses at the pilgrim fund between 2014 and 2020 and made 25 recommendations aimed at improving transparency and professionalism.
MACC has since opened several investigation papers and charged or remanded several former TH executives and other individuals in connection with matters arising from the report.
Separately, Abd Halim said MACC was seeking approval to record a statement from a former Felda chairman who is currently serving a prison sentence as part of an investigation into assets and investments linked to Felda Investment Corporation (FIC).
“The direction of our investigation into Felda will involve recording statements from key witnesses who were part of Felda’s former management. As we are aware, the former Felda chairman is currently serving a prison sentence for a previous corruption offence.
“We will seek the cooperation of the Prisons Department to record a statement from the individual concerned,” he said.
Although MACC did not name the individual, the description matches Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, who is serving a six-year prison sentence after the Federal Court reinstated his conviction for accepting RM3.09 million in bribes linked to FIC’s RM160 million purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel in Kuching.
The FIC probe forms part of MACC’s wider Ops Fella investigation into Felda and FIC transactions between 2010 and 2020.
A former Felda general manager and a former subsidiary chief executive officer have already been remanded in connection with a separate investigation involving a Kuala Lumpur land and development project.
Meanwhile, Abd Halim dismissed reports that a senior Umno leader would be called in for questioning after the party’s general assembly, saying no such individual was currently listed in MACC investigations.
“As far as I’m concerned, and as far as MACC is concerned, there is none. I don’t understand where this report came from or how it emerged. There is no such person on our list,” he said.
