Op Kepala: Two Civil Servants Allegedly Received Up To 11 Pct Commission Per Project

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 (Bernama) -- Two civil servants, one with a ‘Datuk’ title, who were arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) recently, are suspected of receiving between six to 11 per cent commission for each development and maintenance project approved since 2021.

According to an MACC source, both individuals are believed to have controlled the entire procurement process for projects around Kuala Lumpur, with each company that wanted to be part of the project having to pay such commission rates.

“The director with the Datuk title is understood to have been working in Selangor and played the role of approving projects since 2021, while the engineer is believed to have been the intermediary in negotiations between the company discussing the invoice,” they said, adding that investigations also found that the activities involved a married couple and one of their fathers, who is the owner of a company and a Datuk title holder, as well as a contractor.

“They allegedly monopolised the awarding of projects and paid bribes to the civil servants to ensure that approval was obtained.

“For this year alone, less than 10 projects were approved by the director, with all of them believed to be controlling maintenance projects in Kuala Lumpur, and companies wishing to join needed to pay the set commission,” they said.

Six individuals, including the two civil servants, had been arrested as part of Op Kepala during raids against 10 premises around Klang Valley and Johor on Monday, in which two Toyota Hilux and RM165,000 were seized, along with 95 individual and company accounts containing about RM6 million frozen.

MACC Special Operations Division senior director Datuk Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin had confirmed the arrests when contacted, adding that the case was being investigated under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009.

-- BERNAMA