KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 ― The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission have launched Ops Belot to clamp down on law officers providing protection to vice dens, with 23 personnel from several agencies already arrested since the operation was launched two days ago.
English-language daily News Straits Times quoted MACC investigation director Datuk Mohd Jamidan Abdullah as saying the operation was launched after surveillance found gambling and prostitution spots mushrooming nationwide.
“It is fishy how so many of these illicit businesses are operating so openly. It is even more perplexing that not only have they not been shut down, but they also seem to be growing in number, Jamidan was quoted as saying.
The MACC investigation director added that enforcement officers have been under the vice kingpins' payroll for years, providing key information to help them escape action by the authorities.
He said MACC wants a policy to expedite the rotation period of officers working in the vice department from three years to as low as six months.
Badminton probe
MACC said it would be meeting with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) soon to begin investigations on allegations of match fixing.
Among the matches reported to have been fixed by bookies included this year’s Malaysian Open held in January.
The police had launched its own investigation into the allegations but had since called for MACC intervention as it involved corruption, Jamidan said.
On Sunday, the Badminton World Federation confirmed lodging a report on the attempted match-fixing to the police.
The issue of match-fixing in badminton came to light after the Danish Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday that two of Denmark’s leading players, Hans-Kristian Vittinghus and Kim Astrup, had told BWF that they had been approached by a Malaysian man through Facebook just before the Japan Open in June in an apparent attempt to rig matches.
Former national players Razif Sidek, Tan Chun Seang and Arif Latif also spoke of their knowledge of the problem.
