SMS Fraud: Ex-telco chief marketing officer, company director remanded

KUALA LUMPUR: A former telecommunications company chief marketing officer and a company director have been remanded for five days beginning today to assist investigations into a corruption case involving a short messaging system (SMS) fraud syndicate.

The remand order till Nov 21 was issued by magistrate Siti Roslizawati Mohd Zanin after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) submitted the remand application today.

According to an MACC source, both men, aged 49 and 42, were detained at the MACC headquarters around 9 pm last night after giving their statements.

They are believed to have given and taken bribes for the purpose of procuring personal information of prepaid plan customers.

The phone numbers procured were then allegedly used by the syndicate to incur subscription charges through SMS without the knowledge and consent of the users, the source said.

Currently, 16 individuals, including two with the title Datuk, have been remanded since Nov 10 to assist investigations into the case.

The case is being investigated under Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009.

-- BERNAMA