KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) remanded six individuals, including two women, believed to be involved in a syndicate that sells fake Darjah Kebesaran Pingat Persekutuan awards that carry the “Tan Sri” title for RM2 million.
According to a source, the first four suspects detained were three men and a woman aged between 30 and 50. They were detained on November 30 at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya after their statements were taken by MACC officers.
Two other suspects, a woman in her 40s and a man in his 30s, were detained separately on December 4 and 6, respectively.
The source said that the last suspect detained was an NGO president, who was detained in Melaka at about 3pm, yesterday.
The said suspect is believed to be the mastermind of the syndicate who would set the price and determine the candidate who would be interested in purchasing the “Tan Sri” title.
It was claimed that the suspect had ordered his accomplice, the second-detained suspect, a man in his 50s, to disguise himself as a “Tengku” to obtain payment from about six other individuals who wanted to get the awards without going through the proper procedures.
The source said the second suspect’s wife is believed to be involved with two other suspects who had allegedly disguised themselves as businessmen from an agriculture company and would manage the money transaction.
“The syndicate is believed to have started in 2020. Several victims had been scammed, involving hundreds of thousands of ringgit. (The suspects would) show pictures and supporting documents from a certain government agency to convince the victims that the title and the award would be arranged through ‘the back door’ and that they were genuine.
“One of the victims (a male in his 50s) is believed to have paid about RM1.2 million to get the Tan Sri title through several bank transactions to this syndicate.
“The MACC is still locating five other individuals who were apparently victims of this syndicate,” the source said.
He said the syndicate imposed different charges, depending on the level of honorifics. For example, the “Datuk” title would be about RM150,000, “Datuk Seri” (RM250,000), and “Tan Sri” about RM2 million.
Following the arrests, the remand for three suspects has been extended for three days (December 6 to 8), while one suspect has been released under MACC’s bail.
“The female suspect who was detained on December 4 has been remanded for four days (December 5 to 9), while the main suspect is to be remanded for five days (December 7 to December 11) after the remand order was issued by magistrate Irza Zulaikha Rohanuddin at the Putrajaya magistrate’s court yesterday,” he said.
Meanwhile, MACC senior director (Investigation) Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hashim, when contacted, confirmed the arrests, saying the case is being investigated under Section 16(a)(A) of the MACC Act 2009.
He said that the MACC is now trying to locate several other suspects believed to be involved in the syndicate. – December 8, 2023