MACC arrests Johor civil servant over bribe

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has arrested an assistant director of the Johor Department of Occupational Safety and Health on suspicion of having solicited for and accepted a bribe.

The officer was held at a hotel here at 2.40 pm yesterday, according to an MACC statement issued today.

The statement said the officer was found to have solicited for and accepted a bribe of RM30,000 from a project manager of a petroleum engineering company purportedly as an inducement not to act against the company which had installed a grip hoist without approval from the department.

It said that following the arrest, a team of investigators raided the house of the officer and found RM18,505 in cash hidden in a room and under the staircase.

The team also recovered several documents related to the project, it added.

Johor MACC director Datuk Azmi Alias, when contacted, confirmed the arrest and said the officer would be brought to court in the afternoon to be remanded to facilitate the investigation.

-- BERNAMA