The Johor branch of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested two religious officers for allegedly accepting bribes from a printing company to print books for state religious schools.

The two men, aged 45 and 55, who are attached to the Johor Baru District Islamic Education Office, were detained after they came to the Johor MACC office at about 4.15pm today to have their statements recorded.

It is learnt that one of them is involved in an association entrusted to coordinate and manage the sales of books and equipment to 550 state religious schools in Johor, which have about 175,000 pupils.

According to an MACC source, the duo were believed to have accepted bribes from the printing company appointed by the association as an inducement for giving the company several book printing projects worth about RM5 million since 2015.

Following the arrests, the Johor MACC also confiscated six vehicles believed to be bought using the bribe money received by the duo.

The vehicles were a Toyota Alphard, a Chevrolet Malibu, a Toyota Hilux, a Mini Cooper, a Honda CRV and a Perodua Axia.

Johor MACC director Azmi Alias, when contacted, confirmed the arrests, saying that the duo were expected to be remanded tomorrow to assist further investigations into the case under Section 16 (a)(b) of the MACC Act 2009.

Meanwhile, the Johor MACC also detained two senior officers of the Johor State Islamic Religious Department (JAINJ) suspected of being involved in corruption and abuse of power for personal gain.

One of them is the principal assistant director, while the other, an assistant officer, of the JAINJ Syariah Law Division.

The two men, aged 55 and 40, were detained at 4.30pm when they arrive at the Johor MACC office to give statements on their cases.

According to a source, the duo were alleged to have abused their positions by approving permits to organise Islamic pre-marriage courses without going through proper procedures.

Both were believed to have approved the permits for the courses through an unregistered Welfare and Sports Body set up by the division.

The body, chaired by the principal assistant director, was also believed to have organised pre-marriage courses since 2015 to date.

According to the source, payment for the courses amounting to RM130,000 had been deposited into the account of the welfare body, which were later used by its members for umrah, oversea trips and other personal activities.

Azmi Alias confirmed the arrests and said the case
was being investigated under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009.

- Bernama