PUTRAJAYA: More than 60 percent of the 156 investigation papers (IP) involving high-profile and public interest cases opened by the Special Operations Division (BOK) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) between 2020 and June 8 this year involved politicians.

BOK senior director Datuk Tan Kang Sai said the investigation resulted in the arrest of a total of 211 individuals, with 91 of them brought to court and involved 454 charges.

"During the same period, the MACC also confiscated RM51,132,539 in cash, forfeited property and cash amounting to RM10,465,873.39 and issued compound amounting to RM128,968,750," he told Bernama recently.

He said investigating high-profile and public interest, especially concerning financial transactions involving banks and foreign financial institutions, had its own challenges.

Investigating the money trail becomes difficult when the money involved is transferred to accounts abroad because each country has different laws to protect its banking system, he said, adding that the banks and financial institutions have the right not to cooperate and to refuse to provide information to facilitate the investigation.

"As such, we see that most of the evidence on money trail brought to the court only involves local banks and financial institutions," he said.

Tan said among the high-profile cases which had been investigated by BOK were Op Mitra, Op Hire and Op Marii which involved misuse of funds amounting to hundreds of millions of ringgit provided by the government for the development of the Indian community, workers and the country's automotive industry.

Another challenge facing BOK, he said, is when cases being investigated were sensationalised by the media and politicians.

"This allows parties involved to take the opportunity to destroy important documents such as financial transactions, and to flee.

"Today's technological advancement also presents its own challenges where financial transactions involving local banks and financial institutions and even foreign financial institutions can be carried out using only mobile phones.

"In view of the challenges, MACC engages experts in accounting, engineering and law as part of the BOK investigation team to ensure a comprehensive investigation before submitting the IPs to the Attorney General's Chambers," he said.

He said BOK also used Effective Investigation Management (EIM) and Management Team-based Investigation (MTI) to enhance public confidence in MACC's authority as a relevant and pre-eminent anti-corruption agency.

BOK is a special investigation unit of MACC established to investigate high-profile and public interest cases as well as those affecting the country's security.

It was established in 2010 and is part of MACC's transformation initiative to achieve the objectives of the National Key Result Area (NKRA) related to large-scale corruption cases, on procurement and enforcement.

-- BERNAMA