PUTRAJAYA: An organization director and an association president had been among 22 people detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in operations carried out in seven states yesterday to help within the investigations into the misappropriation of funds from the Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra).
According to MACC sources, the 22, who additionally comprised the secretaries of associations and organisations, had been arrested in operations carried out in Perak, (*22*), Kedah, Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka.
Six of the people arrested on Thursday (Jan 20) have been remanded for 4 to 6 days from at present after the MACC made an utility on the Magistrate’s Courts in (*22*), Kedah and Putrajaya, whereas the remainder had been launched on MACC bail.
The sources added 337 corporations, associations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had earlier been recognized to have been accepted grant allocations by MITRA from 2019 to 2021, with an allocation of about RM203mil.
According to the sources, the main focus of MACC’s investigation within the preliminary section could be on on 27 corporations, associations and NGOs which had acquired allocations of between RM1mil and RM9mil.
In October 2021, the MACC arrested 18 people involving 10 corporations, organisations and NGOs to help in investigations into the misappropriation of funds.
The sources mentioned that underneath the operation known as Mitra 2.0, it could give attention to 17 corporations and organisations that had acquired allocations of between RM1mil and RM9mil.
According to the sources, the MACC had additionally collaborated with the National Unity Ministry to kind a particular inside investigation staff to give attention to corporations that acquired allocations of lower than RM1mil.
“The focus of this inside investigation might be to scrutinise all types of functions, expenditure studies and programmes which are mentioned to have been applied by the recipients of Mitra allocation grants from 2019 to 2021,” the sources mentioned.
In October final yr, Klang MP Charles Santiago had requested National Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique to clarify the place funds amounting to RM9.1mil from Mitra had been spent
On Oct 9 final yr, Halimah was reported to have mentioned that the National Unity Ministry was prepared to provide full cooperation to the MACC on the difficulty that had gone viral associated to Mitra’s monetary grant. – Bernama
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