KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) detained four men including three public servants for allegedly accepting monthly bribes of up to RM500,000 from illegal business premises here.

A MACC source said a deputy director of a local government authority (PBT) and two of its personnel, including its enforcement officer, are being remanded for seven days until June 14, adding that another suspect, a former enforcement officer, is placed under a five-day remand until June 12.

The source said the remand order for the suspects, all males in their 30s and 40s, was issued by Magistrate Shairil Farhana Ruslan following MACC’s application at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters.

The PBT deputy director, the main suspect, is believed to have received monthly bribes between RM100,000 and RM500,000 for several months from massage parlours, entertainment centres, and illegal premises as kickbacks to allow them to operate, said the source.

“Following the arrest of the main suspect, MACC then detained three other individuals believed to have also received bribes and acted as middlemen in distributing bribe money to several enforcement personnel of the PBT,” the source told Bernama today.

The source said MACC also seized cash totalling over RM200,000 besides jewellery and 28 gold wafers with unknown value and weight, adding that all the suspects were nabbed at several locations in the capital city during an operation yesterday.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur MACC director Datuk Mohamad Fauzi Husin confirmed the arrest, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 17(a) and Section 16(a) of the MACC Act 2009.