KANGAR: Only the Syariah Judiciary department has the authority to determine whether a Muslim marriage is valid, not the Perlis Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JAIPs).
This follows the detention by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Perlis of three individuals yesterday, including a senior JAIPs officer, an imam from a mosque in Kangar, and his son, who owns a company managing marriage registrations in the state.
JAIPs director Najmuddin Abdul Karim said that their role is merely operational.
"JAIPs only conducts marriage ceremonies in Perlis, the validity of the marriage (handled by the company) must be referred to the Syariah Judiciary department.
"Regarding this case, JAIPs is handing over the investigation to MACC and will continually assist them to complete the investigation.
"We will cooperate by providing any documents needed by MACC for their investigation," he said when contacted today.
He added that, for now, the JAIPs officers detained by MACC have not been suspended or dismissed as they are being held only for investigation and have not been charged in court.
Meanwhile, MACC sources stated that no accounts belonging to the three suspects have been frozen at this time, as the investigation is still ongoing.
"Moreover, the RM2,000 fine imposed on couples who re-registered their marriages in the country is still deposited into the Islamic Religious department's account," the source added.
Yesterday, a senior JAIPs officer, an imam from a mosque in Kangar, and his son, who reportedly have over RM1 million each in of their savings accounts from marriage registration activities in Perlis between April 2022 and June 2023, were detained by MACC.
The three individuals, aged between 25 and 52, are being remanded for five days until June 9 to assist in the investigation into the acceptance of RM1,183,140 in bribes related to marriage registration management.