PUTRAJAYA: Graft busters today displayed 26 luxury watches, thick gold necklaces, gold bars, and cash seized through their Op Parasite and Op Star probes into several senior military officers.
One of the luxury watches seized, a Rolex, was estimated to be worth over RM200,000.
The press conference was held by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) following months of investigations into the officers over allegations of abuse of power, misappropriation of assets, and soliciting bribes.
After the question-and-answer session, MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki held one of the seized luxury watches for the media.
“I was told by my investigators that this watch was one of the more expensive ones seized. It is worth over RM200,000,” he said.
Azam was also seen picking up a thick gold necklace complete with a large heart-shaped pendant, which left some reporters speechless.
He said the 26 watches seized had been authenticated.
Azam also picked up a compressed packet containing at least RM600,000 in cash.
During the press conference, Azam said graft busters had seized over RM8.42 million of gold, assets, and vehicles in their misappropriation of funds probe involving two senior armed forces officers.
The seizures included 66 gold plates weighing around 2.49kg, worth RM1.7 million, and three cars, including a Mercedes-Benz A-Class, a Toyota Vellfire, and two motorcycles.
They also seized RM1.3 million in cash and RM721,000 in foreign currency, while freezing eight company accounts and four personal accounts worth RM4.7 million.
Meanwhile, investigations into army procurement tenders have led to the seizure and freezing of nearly RM44 million in cash, luxury items, and funds held in multiple company accounts.
Among the items seized were RM4.4 million in cash, foreign currency valued at RM1.4 million, a Range Rover worth RM360,000, and 26 wristwatches valued at RM2.3 million, most of them Rolex.
Also seized were jewellery worth RM294,039, two diamond rings valued at RM20,000, gold bars weighing 3.7kg worth more than RM700,000 at current prices, more than 1kg of gold valued at RM2.5 million, gold medals weighing 150g valued at RM102,000, and two gold dinars weighing 8.5g valued at RM5,780.
The total value of seized physical items stands at RM11.4 million, while 75 company accounts involving RM32.5 million have been frozen.
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