Five held over RM26mil theft
Group has been syphoning money meant for Syrian aid for 10 years
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested five senior officials of an NGO on suspicion of having embezzled RM26mil in public donations.
Sources said the suspects included its chairman, secretary, treasurer and financial officer.
'Money was transferred to their personal accounts and used to purchase jewellery, cars, land, houses and even cryptocurrency.
'They are also believed to have diverted organisational funds into personal accounts to provide loans to staff members and siphoned off surplus funds from a humanitarian well-building project in Syria for personal use,' a source told Bernama.
The source said the misappropriation of public donations was believed to have been going on since 2015.
The five were detained under Op Serantau conducted by the Selangor MACC across several locations in Selangor, Melaka and Penang from last Thursday.
The suspects have been remanded for seven days, four of them until tomorrow and the other until Thursday.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki confirmed the arrests and disclosed that assets worth over RM8mil had been seized or frozen.
The seized items included jewellery valued at approximately RM100,000, over RM1mil in cash, cryptocurrency accounts worth about RM650,000 and four houses estimated at more than RM1.4mil.
'MACC has also frozen 14 bank accounts totalling nearly RM5mil for further investigation,' he said, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 409 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust.
In another case, the MACC will conduct another statement recording session with an individual holding the title of Tan Sri regarding the alleged embezzlement of sukuk funds.
The statement will be recorded on Thursday morning at the Tan Sri's residence in Sungai Besi.
Previously, the MACC seized various assets, including handbags, jewellery, luxury vehicles, watches, cash, and a luxury residence.
These assets, estimated at approximately RM32mil, are believed to belong to a highway concessionaire with the Tan Sri title.
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