Kuala Lumpur: Over 100 private companies are on the radar of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commision (MACC) for suspicion of making false claims under the Penjana Kerjaya 2.0 hiring incentive programme.
An unnamed MACC source told Malay daily Utusan Malaysia that the companies from various sectors and industries, were suspected of taking advantage of the Penjana rehiring scheme during the Covid-19 economic rehabilitation phase to commit fraudulent activities by falsifying documents to make claims for funds.
According to the news report published today, individuals in the companies under watch were identified based on intelligence gathered during the MACC’s Ops Hire along with the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
The source claimed that the companies under watch have between 10 to 70 staff and claimed to have offered training and a salary to their employees in order to misappropriate government funds.
SPONSORED CONTENT Firefly’s inaugural flight to Sandakan SANDAKAN: Firefly, the low-cost carrier subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines; made its inaugural flight from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan on Tuesday. Read more “They were working with training institutes or other firms to obtain data so that they could make the claims in order to make use of the government hiring schemes. But in actual fact there were no such recruitments,” the source was quoted as saying.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (Operations) Datuk Seri Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya confirmed the arrest of 47 company directors for falsifying claim amounts ranging from RM450,000 to RM2 million.
The company directors whose ages are between 30 and 70 are being investigated under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009 and Section 471 of the Penal Code.
* Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss.
* Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.