Five suspects who were allegedly involved in Felda's RM47.6 million sturgeon farm project have been remanded for seven days by a Putrajaya magistrate's court.

The remand order was issued by Magistrate Isfahanie Tasnim Wan Ab Rahman.

The five, which included a 57-year-old 'Datuk', a 53-year-old former deputy director at Felda, a 30-year-old former operations officer for the sturgeon project, a 33-year-old administrative officer and a 38-year-old who is involved at Felda's property division.

All five were seen wearing orange Malaysian-Anti Corruption Commission overalls during the remand process. They are being investigated under Section 18 of the Malaysian-Anti Corruption Commission Act 2009.

They were accused of having abused their position to approve a technology transfer deal involved in the sturgeon rearing project since 2014, without the approval of the Felda board of directors, for personal benefit.

It was understood that the sturgeon project was first presented to the board in 2013 and one of the accused was tasked with compiling a detailed report regarding the project.

According to the MACC, a suspect had set up Felda Carviative Sdn Bhd (FCSB) in January 2014 and signed a technology transfer deal on sturgeon farming worth RM47.6 million with a South Korean firm without knowledge of the board and Felda's legal and financial division.

The project allegedly had not received approval from the Pahang Department of Environment when the deal was signed while payments to the Korean firm had started a week after FCSB was formed.

In another development, Isfahanie released two suspects who were under investigations by the MACC. Bail amount was set at RM40,000.

The two were investigated as part of MACC's Ops Guinea. They were accused of abuse of power and graft involving a e-passport project with the Republic of Guinea.

[More to follow]