PUTRAJAYA – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has crippled a government projects cartel syndicate with the arrest of seven individuals including its 47-year-old leader last midnight.
According to a source the projects cartel syndicate which has been operating since 2014 has monopolised 345 government tenders from several ministries and government agencies nationwide worth RM3.8 billion.
The leader of the syndicate controls over 150 companies used to enter tender or quotation bidding in the ministries and agencies involved.
He is said to have created 150 different companies by employing certain individuals as company directors when he is the actual owner of those companies.
The syndicate focussed on facility maintenance and development projects.
Besides that, the syndicate is also believed to have obtained the cooperation from insiders to ensure that his companies are allowed to enter tender / quotation bidding and one of them succeed in the bid.
The modus operandi of the cartel is to pay the insiders for information on the specifications, ceiling price, department price, number of participants, criteria of selection and the right timing to submit the tender / quotation forms.
The syndicate uses the tactic to ‘besiege the price’ by joining the tender utilising a large quantity of companies under the supervision of the syndicate leader.
The companies would join the tender using different prices based on the ceiling price pre-determined.
Intelligence by the MACC also found that the syndicate has used hundreds of individuals to open up companies under its umbrella.
Each individual is paid monthly salary and commission for their names and personal details. It is also believed that their academic and professional qualifications for most of the nominees used to set up the companies are fake.
Each company had also used fake financial statements to ensure that they qualify for the tender or bid.
The MACC also spied and monitored the operation centre of the syndicate last night and almost all syndicate members gathered to fill up tender forms.
The raid by MACC shocked everyone present and several arrests were made last night.
PIX: Hazrol Zainal / MalaysiaGazette
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Azam Baki, the Chief Commissioner of MACC verified the arrest when contacted and said that the case is investigated under Section 17 and 18 of the MACC Act.
He did not reject the possibility that more arrests will be made soon. –MalaysiaGazette
