KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers are not “James Bond” who can solve a case like the Mentri Besar Selangor Incorporated (MBI) investigation within a day, says Tan Sri Azam Baki.

The MACC chief commissioner said his officers were still hard at work tracking down stock shares suspected to be linked to bribery.

“Such things (speedy probes) only happen in a movie. So, give us time to thoroughly investigate the case,” he said after attending the signing of a memorandum of understanding on improving governance between MACC and the Social Security Organisation (Socso) here yesterday.

Azam said that so far, no new arrests had been made, though one suspect had been rearrested and remanded for seven days.

The MACC had also frozen several assets and accounts worth millions of ringgit as part of its ongoing investigation into alleged bribery related to sand-mining concessions.

“We might provide an update on the case within three or four days,” Azam said.

The investigation is focused on 20 projects under MBI that are believed to be tainted with corrupt activities.

Azam had earlier said that the case was part of investigations involving a Selangor politician.

“These projects pertain to state interests and are not linked to the current Selangor Mentri Besar.

“We need to wrap up our investigations and collect the evidence before we call in the said politician. We do not know if there are other Selangor politicians involved,” he said, declining to identify the politician in question.

Azam also confirmed that the former MBI chief operating officer had been remanded for a week in connection with the MBI case, although it was related to a separate issue.

This former official was first arrested last week, but was released for health reasons.

On a different case, Azam said it was not yet the right time to question former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin regarding the RM4.07bil 1BestariNet service tender involving the Education Ministry.

He gave an assurance that Muhyiddin would be called in when the probe was further along, as many details still had to be gathered.Azam explained that the MACC was examining the data supply provided by the contractor to schools, looking into both criminal aspects and governance issues surrounding the tender.

Reports suggested that the investigations may also explore potential false claims.

Azam had said there were instances where supplies were claimed to have been delivered when they were not.

“We have to look into this because under the law, if claims are made and the supply is not furnished, then this is a crime in principle,” he said.

The investigation aimed to determine whether schools were supplied with the deliverables as specified in the contract, Azam said, adding that the claims were made following the signing of the contract to implement the 1BestariNet project.

The project was launched in 2011, with YTL Communications Sdn Bhd engaged to provide high-speed Internet access to schools.

The project included the implementation of the Frog Virtual Learning Environment, a cloud-based learning platform.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/10/19/speedy-probes-only-happen-in-movies-says-macc-chief