KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested 10 civil servants suspected of accepting more than RM3 million in bribes from a contraband smuggling syndicate.
Magistrate Irza Zulaikha Rohanuddin granted a four-day remand against the suspects at the Putrajaya magistrate's court today.
According to sources, the civil servants, aged between 30 and 50, were arrested along with five other individuals while providing their statements at the MACC headquarters yesterday evening.
"The arrests were made following Operation Samba 2.0 conducted by MACC's Anti-Money Laundering Division in collaboration with the Inland Revenue Board and Bank Negara Malaysia beginning March 11.
"The suspects are believed to have received bribes totalling more than RM3 million from the syndicate to facilitate the smuggling of chewing tobacco, cigarettes, alcohol, and several other goods between 2017 and 2023," the sources said.
The suspects' mobile phones were also seized and their bank accounts were frozen.
Previously, MACC's Anti-Money Laundering Division arrested and remanded 11 individuals, including five public servants, to assist in the investigation.
The syndicate's modus operandi includes using forwarding agents as intermediaries for payments to law enforcers to smoothen the smuggling of alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco, and other goods without proper declaration and inspection.
The syndicate is also believed to use mule accounts for its bribery transactions with colluding civil servants.
Furthermore, the syndicate is implicated in money laundering activities through the use of shell companies' business accounts, money changers, and licensed money-lending companies.
MACC's Anti-Money Laundering Division director Datuk Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin, when contacted, confirmed the arrests of the 10 suspects and said the case is being investigated under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009.
He said five suspects had been released on MACC bail.