PUTRAJAYA, July 1 — The former husband of an actress and his friend, who were remanded for allegedly impersonating Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers to solicit a RM1 million bribe, were released today.
Magistrate Muhammad Bukhori Md Raslan allowed the duo to be released with bail of RM4,000 in one surety each.
The unemployed duo, aged 37 and 38, were remanded for four days from last Thursday to facilitate the investigation into the case under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act 2009.
They were detained at 5.30pm and 10pm on Wednesday at a hotel in the capital while the negotiation and partial payment of the bribe took place.
According to the MACC spokesperson, the actress’ 38-year-old former husband had allegedly acted as an intermediary to approach the victim, a politician with a Datuk title, claiming that the victim was linked to a corruption case and that he could help resolve the case with a ‘fee’ of RM1 million.
He said the man’s modus operandi was to claim to have close ties with a high-ranking MACC officer who could help resolve the case.
The two suspects were also said to be using official government letters retrieved from the Internet to convince the victim.
A check by MACC, however, found that the victim had no record of being investigated by the commission as claimed by the suspects, the spokesman said.
The victim, who was suspicious that he was being duped, lodged a report with MACC and a meeting was arranged between the suspects and the victim at the hotel before the MACC team stormed in and arrested them. — Bernama
