An Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry official who was remanded to facilitate investigations into a case involving misappropriation of Youth and Sports Ministry funds has been released.

The funds involved are believed to be more than RM100 million.

The man, aged 43, was released on Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) bail of RM10,000 with one surety set by Magistrate Nik Isfahanie Tasnim Wan Ab Rahman.

He was previously attached with the Youth and Sports Ministry before transferring to the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry.

On March 17, the MACC detained six individuals incuding a Youth and Sports Ministry senior officer and a woman allegedly linked to a syndicate that allegedly cheated the government of RM107 million.

Three more individuals were detained the following day to assist in investigations.

The syndicate believed to have been active since 2010, allegedly misled finance divisions of the Youth and Sports Ministry agencies to channel payment to 14 companies purportedly for organising sports-related programmes.

On March 24, two contractors of event management companies and a woman believed to be a proxy for a company were released on MACC bail of RM10,000 with one surety each.

Last Friday, another contractor of an event management company aged 36 was released on a similar bail amount.

- Bernama