MACC SMASHES FOREIGN FISHERMEN SYNDICATE, ARRESTS MMEA OFFICERS
Syndicate would bribe officers to allow foreign vessels to fish in Malaysian waters
THE Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) yesterday arrested 22 individuals, including a Vietnamese woman with a Datuk title, for alleged graft involving encroachment by foreign fishermen on Malaysian waters.
Its chief commissioner, Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad, said the agency also seized RM1.9 million and had frozen 44 accounts amounting to RM2 million.
He said the suspects were arrested in a joint operation with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) called Op Armada, to address the issue of encroachment on Malaysian waters by foreign fishermen.
The suspects were picked up in Pahang, Terengganu, Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan.
“The suspects (seven Vietnamese, including two women; six civil servants and nine locals) were believed to have been involved in a syndicate which allows foreign fishermen, especially Vietnamese, to encroach on Malaysian waters.
“The civil servants were arrested for accepting bribes and abuse of power. They include five MMEA officers and one from the Fisheries Department, while the locals were boat operators and middlemen.
“One of them, who is a Datuk, is believed to be the mastermind of the syndicate,” he said at a press conference in MACC headquarters here yesterday.
He said the illegal fishermen would bribe the officers between RM50,000 and RM200,000 for every boat as an inducement to release and not to take action against them.
Dzulkifli said investigations showed that the syndicate had been active since last year.
“The foreign boats from Vietnam had been using middlemen or runners to negotiate with the officers,” he said, adding that MACC was in the process of obtaining a remand order against the suspects.
Op Armada was launched with MMEA early this year in line with the National Blue Ocean Strategy to curb the encroachment of foreign fishermen on Malaysian waters, especially in the east coast, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.
Dzulkifli said based on statistics, 1,063 fishing boats with 8,898 crew, including from Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, had been detained by MMEA from 2006 to Nov 3, this year.
Of the total, Vietnamese boats recorded the highest number with 605, followed by Indonesia at 335; Thailand (100); the Philippines (9); China (6); Singapore (6); Brunei (1) and Taiwan (1).
MMEA director-general Datuk Admiral Zulkifili Abu Bakar said he did not rule out the possibility that more of its officers would be nabbed for corruption.
He said the agency would review its standard operating procedures and improve its system to combat corruption from within.
“We are aware that some of our officers are involved in corruption and abuse of power.
“That is why we teamed up with MACC to weed out corrupt MMEA personnel.
“We could not have done this alone as this involves a syndicate. If we had only taken action against the officers, the problem would not be resolved as even if we send out new officers, there would be those out there offering bribes, so we needed the commission to help us nab both the givers and takers,” he said.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Azam Baki said the 41-year-old female suspect with the title of “Datuk” had been staying in the country, but never obtained permanent resident status.
She used to work as a court interpreter some years ago.
“She has several bank accounts in the country and we have frozen them,” said Azam.
On Oct 14, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi called on maritime enforcement agencies to protect areas in the Exclusive Economic Zone from encroachment by foreign fishing vessels at all costs.
He said the country had lost between RM3 billion and RM6 billion a year to illegal fishing.