KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested five individuals suspected of embezzling RM26 million in public donations from a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
Sources said the five suspects include the NGO’s chairman, secretary, treasurer and financial officer.
They were detained in “Ops Serantau”, an operation conducted by the Selangor MACC across several locations in Selangor, Melaka and Penang from last Thursday.
The suspects have been remanded for seven days — four until Wednesday and the fifth until Thursday.
“The money was transferred to their personal accounts and used to purchase jewellery, cars, land, houses and even cryptocurrency.
“They are also believed to have diverted organisational funds into personal accounts to provide loans to staff and siphoned surplus funds from a humanitarian well-building project in Syria for personal use,“ a source told Bernama.
The source added that the misappropriation of public donations is believed to have been ongoing since 2015.
Meanwhile, MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki, when contacted, confirmed the arrests and disclosed that assets worth over RM8 million had been seized or frozen.
“Among the seized items are jewellery valued at approximately RM100,000, over RM1 million in cash, cryptocurrency accounts worth around RM650,000, and four houses estimated at more than RM1.4 million.
“MACC has also frozen 14 bank accounts totalling nearly RM5 million for further investigation,“ he said, adding that the case is being investigated under Section 409 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust.
