PETALING JAYA: A Perbadanan Menteri Besar (MBI) chief executive officer has been remanded with a woman, a company director, over corruption and abuse of power in a probe over the theft of rare earth elements (REE).
The two, detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), have been remanded over the case, which allegedly involves bribes exceeding RM13mil.Sources said a three-day remand order had been obtained for both suspects.
According to sources, the 63- and 40-year-old suspects were arrested late Tuesday afternoon in Alor Setar and Kuala Lumpur.
“Mining activities carried out illegally by a company involved have received protection from certain authorities since 2020. In this regard, the investigation results detected that several payments amounting to over RM13mil were given to the companies involved as bribes to protect these illegal mining activities from 2020 to 2023,” the source said.It added that the company owned by the woman is believed to have received approval to develop cloned rubber tree plantations (TLC) in two compartments in Kedah in 2016.
“The project aims to replant log clone rubber trees in the logging areas involved. In 2020, the same company applied to the Kedah state government to conduct rare earth element (REE) mining activities in the same compartment,” the source said, adding that, however, so far, no approval has been given by the state government regarding the company’s application to carry out the mining activity. MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki confirmed the arrest and said the case was investigated under Sections 17 and 23 of the MACC Act 2009.
