KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has detained a chief executive officer of a private company accused of aiding crony companies to procure government contracts linked to Covid-19 stimulus, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported this evening.

The suspect had allegedly accepted bribes to connect contractors and other parties with several government agencies that were giving out the contracts, the news portal reported citing a source.

"Almost 90 per cent of the projects that were given through direct negotiations have not been implemented as no acceptance letters were issued,” the source was quoted as saying.

"Thus, MACC will focus on investigating the remaining 10 per cent of ongoing projects. These projects are currently at only 10 per cent to 20 per cent of work completed.”

The investigation is part of the probe into allegations that portions of the over RM90 billion in pandemic stimulus money had allegedly been embezzled by firms said to be connected to leaders from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration.

A remand order was obtained from the Putrajaya Magistrate’s Court this morning. The chief executive, aged 42, will be detained for questioning for five days, FMT reported.

The news portal citing the same source said the suspect was arrested when he went to MACC’s headquarters in Putrajaya to provide evidence last night.

MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki confirmed the arrest. He told FMT the case is being investigated under Section 16(a) of the MACC Act 2009.

The graft busters have opened investigation papers into at least five individuals believed to have been involved in helping companies obtain projects worth between RM50 million to RM500 million through direct negotiations linked to the stimulus packages.

A source from the commission was quoted as saying that several contractors had been questioned and had admitted to paying a commission of between 3 to 5 per cent to win the contracts.

The bribe was said to have been deposited into the account of a political party, which was supposedly meant as political funding.

Malay Mail could not reach the MACC for comment.