PUTRAJAYA: A senior officer of a government agency is the latest to be arrested in connection with the "project tender cartel" crippled by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Sunday night.
The 38-year-old Grade 48 material surveyor, is believed to be involved in the 'cartel'.
He was picked up at his house in Ampang late last night.
Sources said his involvement is believed to be in the preparation of the Bill of Quantity (BQ) for projects offered by the agency.
"He is believed to have accepted bribes to leak information on the specification of projects by the agency to the head of the syndicate to ease the tender document preparations.
"Investigations found that he had received about RM300,000 bribe for each piece of information channeled to the head of the syndicate.
"He had received about four payments, totalling RM1.2 million," the source said.
According to the source, as investigations progress, more people are expected to be nabbed in connection with the project tender cartel.
When contacted, MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Azam Baki confirmed the arrest.
He, however, declined to elaborate.
It was reported that the MACC crippled a "project tender cartel" with the arrest of seven individuals, including its mastermind, in an operation.
The suspects were said to have monopolised a total 354 tenders from several ministries and government agencies nationwide, involving projects worth a total RM3.8 billion.
The syndicate, said to be in operation since 2014, is believed to have used more than 150 companies to submit tenders or quotations to the ministries and agencies involved.
The head of the syndicate created 150 different companies by employing several individuals as directors of companies which in fact belonged to the former.
The syndicate targets facility maintenance and development projects.