SHAFIE Apdal will be questioned on a number of files related to the alleged embezzlement of RM1.5 billion of federal funds meant for rural projects in Sabah, sources said.

The files are of projects given out through the Rural and Regional Development Ministry when Shafie was the minister, between 2009 and 2015.

Sources said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigators are now sifting through at least 70 files on which Shafie is expected to be questioned.

“This is just for questioning,” the source told The Malaysian Insight.

Shafie, the Party Warisan Sabah president who turns 60 today, was arrested last night at the Sabah MACC office and is expected to be remanded later today to facilitate investigations.

He was about to be taken to the Kepayan police lock-up last night when his lawyers insisted that he be sent for a medical check-up first after he complained earlier of having symptoms of high blood pressure.

An argument ensued between Shafie’s lawyer Loretto Padua and MACC personnel when the lawyer wanted Shafie to be taken to the private KPJ hospital but MACC insisted that Shafie be taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital II (QEH II).

At QEH II, checks showed that Shafie’s blood pressure reading was 196/102 which doctors warned could trigger a heart attack.

His family requested that Shafie be allowed to spend the night at the hospital where his condition can be monitored.

“They are treating him like a common criminal,” Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking told The Malaysian Insight last night.

“This is a clear political crackdown where the authorities have been building an unsubstantiated narrative with all the arrests of late.”

The anti-graft agency is investigating some 350 rural projects involving water and electricity supply, as well as roads awarded by the ministry to some 60 companies between 2009 and 2015.

The commission has already questioned 45 people in the course of its investigation. 

Those detained thus far are Warisan vice-president Peter Anthony; Warisan Youth leader Azis Jamman; Tenom Umno Youth chief Jamawi Jaafar; Tawau Umno Youth chief Ariffin Kassim; a senior officer from the ministry; a 54-year-old businessman; Shafie’s two younger brothers – Hamid and Yusof; and Hamid’s 33-year-old businessman son-in-law Manzur Hussein Awal Khan. 

In an earlier interview with The Malaysian Insight, Shafie said he anticipated he would be called in by MACC over the ongoing probe.

He had also expected efforts to derail his political goals the moment he formed Warisan, describing the MACC probe as “selective prosecution” and politically motivated.

He was particularly upset over the arrest of his two younger brothers and others close to him.

Yesterday, Shafie was accompanied by his wife, son and party officials to the Sabah MACC office.

He was questioned for about four hours before the order was given to arrest him.

Shafie, through Leiking, then urged the 100-odd people gathered outside the MACC office to remain calm and go home. – October 20, 2017.