A COMPANIES Commission of Malaysia (CCM) director and two other individuals were today remanded for five days to assist in investigations into allegations of abuse of power which led to loses amounting to RM30 million.

The trio were arrested in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya yesterday and produced before Putrajaya magistrate Ahmad Asyraf Mohammad Ka this morning.

They were arrested for allegedly abusing an internal system at CCM without complying with the Digital Signature Act 1997.

As a result, the government suffered losses amounting to RM30 million between 2017 and 2018.

It was reported earlier that apart from the director, the other two are a senior CCM officer and an individual linked to an information technology (IT) firm. The IT company is a subsidiary of Pos Malaysia Bhd.

The arrests of the suspects between the ages of 44 and 56 are the culmination of months of investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission into CCM’s awarding of contracts since 2009 that allegedly bypassed the open-tender process.

In recent months, MACC officers raided three companies, two government offices and a legal firm in two states, apart from calling in several senior CCM officers for questioning.

The raids were in connection with the RM500 million Business Reporting System of Malaysia project awarded to Formis Network Services Sdn Bhd, MACC sources told The Malaysian Insight previously.

The five-year contract for the project, with a mandatory five-year extension clause, was reportedly the result of direct negotiations.

The government could reportedly lose more than RM250 million in the deal.

CCM is also being investigated over the purchase of its office buildings, with an estimated total value of RM30 million around the country.

Source said all projects between 2014 and 2018 which were awarded without going through the proper process are under investigation.

More arrests are expected. – March 19, 2019.