KUALA LUMPUR: A senior government official is suspected of being among those who received bribes totaling more than RM1 million to register marriages illegally in Perlis since 2022.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said the person in question has been identified by the agency.
"We are conducting an investigation and he is among those who will be proposed to the Deputy Public Prosecutor for charges (in court).
"So far, three officers from the religious department have been arrested and another will be summoned to assist in the investigation," he said.
On June 5, three individuals including a senior officer from the Perlis Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JAIPs) and an imam of a mosque in Kangar
were reported to have been arrested by the MACC to assist in the investigation into receiving bribes totaling RM1.183 million to register their marriage with local religious authorities after getting married in a neighbouring country from April 2022 to June last year.
The three suspects, aged between 25 and 52, who were detained at several locations around Kangar, were remanded and released on bail yesterday.
Earlier, MACC has taken to review around 1,000 files of couples who registered their marriages with the JAIPs to assist in its investigations of a suspected bribery case.
Azam said the directive aims not to question the intentions of the marriages but to take action against those who have exploited the situation for personal gain.