Woman constable, four policemen held by MACC

GEORGE TOWN: Four policemen and a woman constable from the Air Itam police station were detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on Saturday.

Penang MACC director Datuk M.Samarajoo said the policemen and the policewoman, aged between 20 and 40, were detained during a raid by the commission at the police station at 2.30 am.

“One of the policemen is a corporal, while the others are lance corporal.

“They were detained for allegedly accepting money from a man to settle a car theft case,” he said when contacted by Bernama here yesterday.

However, he said all of them, who are from the crime prevention branch, were released after MACC recorded their statements.

Samarajoo said the case was still under investigation and expected to call a few more witnesses to assist in the investigation.

Timut Laut district police chief ACP Mior Faridalatash Wahid, when contacted, confirmed the arrest of the police personnel by MACC.

Meanwhile in PUTRAJAYA, MACC had advised all quarters to stop issuing any statement pertaining to the issue on the purchase of a bungalow by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

In a statement here yesterday, MACC said it was to avoid confusing the public as investigation on the matter was in progress.

“It has to be reminded that investigation of every corruption case is different in terms of evidence gathering, verification of documents, as well as recording of witnesses’ statements and hence, the duration of investigation also varies,” it said.

The statement was issued following claims by some quarters that MACC was not firm and delaying its investigation on the bungalow issue.

The commission also said the issue on the bungalow purchase and the case involving the Youth and Sports Ministry had no link at all with a MACC officer who was convicted on corruption by the court recently.

Therefore, it advised all quarters against making any speculation or politicising the case involving the MACC officer concerned.

The purchase of the bungalow in Penang by Lim at a price of RM2.8 million raised a controversy when Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Shabudin Yahaya brought up the matter at the Dewan Rakyat sitting recently and claimed that the price was below the market value. - Bernama