A Customs officer died today after falling from the third floor of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) building on Jalan Cochrane where he was being investigated over a billion ringgit in unpaid taxes.
MACC investigations director Datuk Mustafar Ali said the Customs officer's body was found sprawled on the ground foor at 10.15am.
The death comes even as a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) is being conducted into the anti-graft body’s operating procedures following the death of former DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock, who also fell to his death from an MACC building.
Teoh was found dead on July 16, 2009 on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, where the Selangor MACC office had then been located.
The commission said yesterday a top Customs officer allegedly involved in money-laundering and tax evasion activities had been released unconditionally following his remand to assist investigations.
The officer in question was remanded on March 29 following an MACC-led swoop on Customs staff, resulting in the arrests of 62 officers, including his wife.
He was brought to the Kuantan Magistrate’s Court on Monday where magistrate Nordiana Abdul Aziz ordered the suspect to be released.
It is learnt that the officer had returned to the MACC office today to meet the investigation officer.
According to Mustafar today, the investigation officer had told the deceased to wait before leaving to collect the case file but found him missing when he returned.
The MACC last week busted a Customs syndicate responsible for billions of ringgit in tax evasion, money laundering and illegal funds outflows after raiding over 100 different premises nationwide.
Mustafar said the operation included the arrest of a husband-and-wife duo working for the Royal Malaysian Customs Department in an east coast state, who were caught with hundreds of thousands of ringgit in cash “scattered around their house.”
He added that the operation was ongoing and the full value of tax evasion was not yet known.
