Remand extended for 11 cops in graft probe

KOTA KINABALU: The magistrate’s court here has granted a three-day remand extension for 11 police officers, personnel and a retiree who were detained on suspicion of accepting bribes linked to drug cases.

The 11 men were initially remanded for seven days, starting last Tuesday, after being detained on Monday to assist investigations into the offences, allegedly committed since 2014.

The extension, which begins today, was issued by magistrate Cindy Mc Juce Balitus after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) prosecuting officer, Mohd Faliq Basiruddin, made the application at the police headquarters’ central lockup here.

Faliq said the extension would allow the commission to continue its investigation under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009.

“There are a few other things that we need to investigate, therefore we applied for the extension for all the suspects, and the court granted us a three-day extension until Wednesday,” he said.

Eight of the policemen, including a retiree, are attached to the Kota Belud district police headquarters, while the remaining three are stationed separately at the Beluran district police headquarters, Kota Kinabalu district police headquarters and Sabah contingent police headquarters.

They hold the ranks of corporal, lance corporal, sergeant and inspector.

“They are believed to have received cash bribes, as well as bank transactions on a daily, weekly or monthly basis from 2014 to June this year,” Faliq said.

The accused are suspected of receiving tens of thousands of ringgit in bribes from drug offenders in return for not taking action against them.

Besides the 11 men, another policeman with the rank of corporal attached to the Kota Belud police station’s store room was arrested and remanded by the commission starting Friday for a similar case.