(Updated 5:02pm, 20 Jan 2009)
KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Jan 2009: Three people, including an Umno division vice-head in Perak, will be charged in court on 22 Jan with offering bribes during the party’s divisional elections last November.
A statement from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Putrajaya today said that the vice-head would be charged with offering a RM300 bribe to someone during a divisional election in the state.
The other two were agents in Pahang and Malacca. Each would be charged with offering a RM200 bribe to someone to elect the candidate for the post of division head.
The statement said all three would be charged under section 10 (b) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2008.
Meanwhile, MACC Director of Investigation Datuk Shukri Abdull, when contacted by Bernama said several individuals in the party were still being investigated for corruption.
However, he declined to disclose the actual number of cases under investigation, but said that out of these cases, about 30 individuals were identified as not being involved in corruption but were only found to have breached party discipline.
“The list of names had already been sent to the Umno Disciplinary Board and it’s up to the board to take action,” he said.
The Disciplinary Board chairperson, Tan Sri Tengku Ahmad Ritahuddeen Ismail could not be contacted for comment.
On 30 Oct, the Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) (now known as the MACC Chief Commissioner) Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan was reported to have said that the agency had received 280 complaints of money politics, of which 82 were found to have basis for investigation and were being probed by the agency.
However, he did not disclose the political parties concerned but said that court action would be taken if there was sufficient evidence. — Bernama
