KUALA LUMPUR: Twelve people, including enforcement officers and personnel involved in tender management, are under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over a diesel supply and tender cartel in Sarawak.
MACC special operations division senior director Datuk Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin said the syndicate was one of the largest in Sibu.
“Five to six people from three enforcement agencies are under scrutiny. In addition, there are six to seven people involved in managing tenders and sales. This is what we have detected from the information gathered,” he said.
He added that bribes from the cartel were believed to have been paid in cash.
“The MACC does not rule out the possibility of further arrests,” he said.
However, he declined to provide details regarding the seizure of assets worth millions of ringgit, which was carried out by the MACC in collaboration with other enforcement agencies.
Earlier reports indicated that a company had acted as a cartel in Sarawak’s fuel supply sector, allegedly causing losses of tens of millions of ringgit.
The syndicate is suspected of paying bribes to insiders in order to secure contracts and tenders for diesel supply in the state. Through these corrupt practices, it was able to obtain contracts for commercial diesel supply to a state government-owned subsidiary.
The cartel is believed to have monopolised such tenders for the past decade by offering diesel prices lower than other major oil producers. Additionally, diesel supplies intended for the state government are thought to have been smuggled and diverted to offshore vessels.
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