The director of the Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department has been arrested by officers from the Sarawak Anti-Corruption Agency on charges of receiving inducements totaling RM925,000.

Mohamad Hamdan Wahid was picked up by Sarawak ACA officers at 10.55pm on Wednesday in Putrajaya and is now on remand in Kuching until June 16 to facilitate further investigation.

The Borneo Post reported today the arrest as confirmed in a statement from Sarawak ACA director Mohamad Yusoff Akope.

Yusoff also revealed that the alleged offence occurred in 2003 while Hamdan was the officer-in-charge of development for the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department.

Money from local company

“Given that the alleged crime occurred in Sarawak, it is our case and we therefore have the authority to make an arrest although the suspect is no longer in the state,” explained Yusoff when asked why state ACA officers flew to Kuala Lumpur to arrest Hamdan.

Hamdan was said to have received the money from a local company as an inducement to support a proposal to construct an office block and workshop for the department in Kuching.

He was also involved in other related projects as well.

“We received information regarding the offence from the public and began our investigation about three months ago,” said Yusoff.

He added that the agency is expecting to charge Hamdan in court “soon” under Section 11(a) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

Yusoff also said that given his rank, Hamdan’s arrest marked one of the highest profile cases for the Sarawak ACA so far.