JOHOR BARU, Feb 27 — A 46-year-old man was arrested by police for suspected involvement in helping a Singapore church’s former fund manager escape from Singapore.

The Malaysian suspect was arrested by a team from the Johor police Criminal Investigations Department’s special investigations unit at 8.05am in Pekan Nanas yesterday following a request by the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

Johor police chief Datuk Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said the suspect was then released to the Singapore authorities at noon on the same day.

"The arrest was to execute an arrest warrant by the Singapore Courts that was issued last Friday (February 23) as the suspect was wanted in connection for flouting the country’s immigration laws,” he said in a statement to the media late yesterday.

Mohd Khalil said the suspect was believed to have assisted a wanted Singaporean man to flee from the country illegally using non-gazetted routes.

"The Johor Police appreciates the working collaboration between Royal Malaysian Police and the SPF, and will continue our close co-operation for the benefit of both countries,” he said.

Earlier, the Singapore media reported that the suspect, identified as Khoo Kea Leng, is in the island republic’s police custody and will be charged in court on Wednesday.

The suspect was wanted for assisting a 57-year-old Singaporean man, who was charged in Singapore courts last Thursday, with attempting to flee the country from Pulau Ubin in a motorised sampan on Wednesday morning.

He was arrested with another man for "attempting to leave Singapore unlawfully at unauthorised point of departure” under the country’s Immigration Act.

The suspect, who was a former church fund manager, was on a S$1 million (RM2.9 million) bail and was due to turn himself in last Thursday to start serving a jail term of three years and four months for his role in the misappropriation of S$50 million of church funds.

The City Harvest Church case was the largest fraud involving charitable funds in Singapore’s history.

Five other City Harvest Church leaders, including founder-pastor Kong Hee, who was also convicted of misusing church funds, began serving their sentences in April last year.