A COMPANY manager has been remanded for four days over bribery in procuring RM60 million worth of contracts at a ministry.

The remand order until June 27 was granted to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) by assistant registrar Roslizawati Mohd Zanin at the Putrajaya magistrates’ court this morning.

Yesterday the MACC obtained a five-day remand order against an assistant divisional secretary at a ministry over this same case.

The senior servant is under investigations into bribery amounting to RM1 million in return for helping 11 companies secure government contracts since 2016.

According to sources, the 43-year-old company manager remanded today was arrested at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya at midnight after presenting himself for questioning.

“The suspect is believed to have worked with the assistant divisional secretary to monopolise contracts worth RM60 million at the ministry since 2018.

“This syndicate is believed to have secured about 16 projects through paying bribes 11 times.”

The case is being investigated under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009.

The MACC has been monitoring government departments suspected of being involved in helping cabals monopolise government contracts.

MACC chief Azam Baki said the monitoring was done with the cooperation of the Ministry of Finance, and that they will scrutinise the procurement process by the relevant departments.

He said the MACC was monitoring the departments based on tip-offs that they were involved in a tender monopoly.

In April this year, the MACC crippled a “project tender cartel” with the arrest of seven individuals, including a 47-year-old syndicate leader.

The group had monopolised a total of 354 tenders from several ministries and government agencies nationwide, involving projects worth a total of RM3.8 billion. – June 24, 2021.