MACC: MORE ARRESTS LIKELY IN PROBE
Political secretary fifth person to be held over fund misappropriation
THE Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) has not ruled out more arrests over its probe into misappropriation of government funds involving the Skills Development Fund Corporation (PTPK).
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad said more arrests would be made if the need arose.
This, he said, would depend on the commission’s probe into a political secretary of the human resources minister.
The 61-year-old man, a Datuk, was held when he went to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya at 12.30pm yesterday to have his statement recorded.
The man is a member of the Sarawak United People’s Party, attached to its Serian branch.
“I can confirm that we have arrested a fifth person in our probe. He is a political secretary of a ministry.
“We will bring him to court tomorrow to apply for a remand order. If there is a need to arrest more people (as the investigation progresses), we will do so,” he said.
Dzulkifli was commenting on MACC’s probe into alleged embezzlement of funds, totalling up to RM40 million, involving PTPK.
The funds, allocated by the Federal Government between 2016 and 2017, were meant to provide skills training programmes for the unemployed.
Sources said the man was being investigated for alleged misappropriation of PTPK allocations.
“We suspect he may be involved in misappropriating the allocation. We will investigate further to determine his involvement,” the sources added.
Earlier this month, four people were arrested at several locations in Kuala Lumpur.
They have since been released. The four included a 58-year-old Datuk, who is PTPK chief executive; PTPK secretary, 34; PTPK assistant finance officer, 32; and a company director, 38.
Preliminary investigations suggested that they embezzled RM15 million last year and RM25 million this year.
The PTPK was established in June 2006 under the Skills Development Fund Act 2004 (Act 640) to manage the Skills Development Fund, which was previously run by the Skills Development Fund Division, under the Human Resources Ministry.