ALOR STAR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have obtained a six-day remand order for five civil servants with a law enforcement agency for allegedly taking bribes to cover up for fishing boat owners in Kedah who flouted the law.
Magistrate Siti Norhidayah Mohd Noor granted the remand application by the MACC when the five men were taken to the Alor Star Courts Complex here today.
The five were among nine civil servants and two civilians nabbed by the MACC yesterday over the alleged corruption that had taken place between 2018 and 2021.
It was reported that MACC have detained 11 individuals, including nine law enforcement officers on suspicion of soliciting and accepting bribes from boat owners and 'runners' to cover up their illicit activities.
The men, in their 30s and 50s were arrested yesterday when they turned up at the Kedah MACC office here to have their statement recorded.
It was reported that two of the civilian suspects are believed to have given bribes of between RM300 to RM7,000 to the officers who were based in Kuala Kedah and Langkawi, as well as in Batu Uban, Penang.
It was learnt that the bribes were paid to cover up and not take legal action against the fishing boat owners for committing offences under the Fisheries Act 1985.
MACC Intelligence Division director Datuk Azmi Kamaruzaman, in confirming the arrests yesterday, said the case was investigated under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act 2009