PUTRAJAYA: A senior officer with the Kedah state government has been remanded to assist probe into alleged corruption and power abuse involving rare earth elements (REE) mining in the state.
It is learnt that the suspect was held over suspicion of asking for bribes totalling RM1mil from a company owner.
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The suspect, who is in his 50s, was arrested at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office in Alor Setar on Sunday at around 8pm.
A three-day remand order until July 26 was issued by Magistrate Muhammad Zul Hilmi Latif after MACC investigators presented an application for the suspect to be remanded at the Alor Setar Magistrate Court.
To date, graft investigators have arrested four suspects over the case, including the chief executive officer of the Mentri Besar Kedah Inc.
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MACC senior director of investigation Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hashim confirmed the arrest.
It was reported that the MACC has opened an investigation paper into allegations of power abuse involving a Mentri Besar over the issue of mining REE, believed to have been conducted illegally, resulting in losses for a state government.
The anti-graft agency also said that it would call caretaker Kedah mentri besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor as part of their investigations into the REE mining activities.
