JOHOR BARU, Jan 12 — A 55-year-old delivery agent has been remanded for five days on suspicion of involvement in a massive fraud concerning imported meat sold as halal in Malaysia.
The remand order was allowed by assistant registrar in the Magistrate's Court Nur Fathiah Mohd Fedzier after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) made the application this morning.
The suspect was arrested at 8pm last night to assist in the “meat cartel” investigation under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009.
Johor MACC director Datuk Azmi Alias confirmed the arrest, but declined further comment as the case is still under investigation.
Last Thursday, two Johor Quarantine and Inspection Services Department (Maqis) officers were remanded for five days. Their remand ended yesterday and they are believed to have been released on MACC bail.
Both officers, aged 27 and 31, were earlier remanded to assist in investigations under Section 17 (a) of the MACC Act 2009.
It was understood that it was the first time that officers from a government department have been arrested in connection with the meat cartel probe.
Prior to that, on Monday last week, the Johor MACC arrested four people in connection with the meat cartel scandal. The suspects, aged between 30 and 50, comprise two directors and an employee of an importing company, and a director of another importing company.
It was reported late last year that the cartel’s activities involved smuggling frozen meat into the country from slaughterhouses that do not have the required Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) halal certification by a syndicate.
The syndicate is also said to have offered bribes to some government employees, including senior officials of certain agencies as an inducement to pass inspections at the country’s entry points.
