A former political secretary to a former minister is among two individuals nabbed by the MACC on suspicion of soliciting and receiving kickbacks for an RM80 million ministry project.

The two individuals were detained at 11pm yesterday after they were summoned to provide their statements at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya.

As reported by Berita Harian, a source said the RM80 million project involving the printing of books was done via direct negotiations.

“The first suspect is in his twenties and is a former political secretary of a former senior minister while the second suspect in his late fifties is a business owner.

“They are believed to be working with the former senior minister in soliciting and receiving bribes through the company of the second suspect from a contractor in return for approving the book printing project through direct tender,” said the source.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya confirmed the arrest.

He said the case is being investigated under Section 16(a)(B) of the MACC Act 2009.

Four-day remand

MACC has since received the court’s order from Putrajaya magistrate Nur Adilah Halid to remand the two individuals for four days starting today until Sept 26.

While it was not reported which senior minister the individual worked for, former education minister Radzi Jidin acknowledged it was his former political secretary who was nabbed in relation to the printing of J-Qaf books for preschools.

Radzi said there have been viral social media postings accusing him and his wife of involvement in the corruption case.

He said he and his wife had no involvement with the printing of the books nor the company mentioned.

“I would like to stress that the accusations in the viral messages linking me and my wife to printing the J-Qaf books for preschools are not true at all.

“My wife is also not royalty and she does not have any links nor interests in the companies stated in the viral messages,” he said in a statement today.

Radzi added that he has never solicited nor received any kickbacks from anyone, whether directly or through a proxy.

Instead, he accused the MACC of acting upon orders from the top and that the viral messages were meant to damage his reputation.

“I will not hesitate to take legal action against anyone who repeats or republishes this malicious and baseless slander,” he said.

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