Petronas senior manager among 3 held over graft
PUTRAJAYA: A senior manager of an oil exploration company is one of three people remanded for six days from yesterday to help in the investigation into a false invoice claim amounting to US$5.56 million (RM23.65 million) for a project in Bintulu, Sarawak, in 2015.
The remand order was issued by magistrate Nik Isfahanie Tasnim Wan Ab Rahman.
The two other people are a woman director of a contractor company, said to have been appointed to implement the project, and a former technical assistant of the oil exploration company.
The three were reportedly arrested by the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) between 2.40pm and 3pm yesterday.
The senior manager of the oil exploration company was reportedly arrested at his office in Kuala Lumpur while the contractor company director and former technical assistant were picked up at their homes in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, respectively.
According to media reports, a false claim was filed by way of three invoices of the contractor company between April and June 2015 for work that was to have been carried out by the company.
Meanwhile, national oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) in a statement yesterday confirmed that MACC had arrested an employee for suspected graft.
According to the statement, issued by its Group Strategic Communications Unit, the arrest took place following an internal investigation by Petronas on the employee, after which the case was reported to MACC.
“Petronas also assisted MACC investigators on the case prior to the arrest. We does not condone nor tolerate any form of misconduct among our employees and contractors and will be extending our fullest cooperation to MACC.”
Petronas had since 2012 been working closely with MACC to prevent corruption and misconduct not just among employees within its group but also among contractors and thirdparty service providers. – Bernama