Tabung Haji COO under four-day MACC custody for bribery probe

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 ― Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) chief operating officer Datuk Adi Azuan Abdul Ghani will be remanded until Saturday to aid the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigate allegations that he solicited and received bribes.

Adi Azuan's lawyer Datuk Shaharudin Ali said the remand order was given by a magistrate in Putrajaya today.

“The court remanded him for four days. That remand is to expire on Saturday, and of course, if MACC feels that they need more time, they can come and ask for extension on Saturday.

“He is being investigated under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act and that is soliciting and receiving bribes as an agent,” the lawyer told Malay Mail.

Shaharudin also clarified that Adi Azuan’s case today has nothing to do with any investigation into some RM22 million missing from TH’s welfare arm, Yayasan Tabung Haji (YTH) as reported yesterday.

Adi Azuan's arrest is believed to be linked with the building of wardrobes in his house by TH's interior design firm AG Reka.

The Yayasan Tabung Haji case

On November 30, TH lodged two police reports with the police's Commercial Crimes Investigation Department against both its existing and current senior management.

One of the police reports was over the alleged misuse of over RM22 million of funds belonging to YTH for politically-linked activities.

TH had alleged that over RM22 million from YTH's 2017 programme “had been disbursed for activities with political inclinations”, with TH noting that such use goes against the foundation’s constitution.

TH noted that the trustees of the welfare foundation at the time of the alleged incident were TH former chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, TH former CEOs Tan Sri Ismee Ismail and Datuk Seri Johan Abdullah, TH chief operating officer Datuk Adi Azuan, and chief financial officer Datuk Rozaida Omar.

TH had also on November 30 pointed out that YTH was formed in 2016 to undertake humanitarian aid and “contribute to the underprivileged, the poor and the needy”, saying it had contributed RM7 million to the programme.