The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission told a press conference on Tuesday (Jan 21) that they are investigating five or six well-known banks whose staff and financial consultants were involved in brokering and corrupt practices in loan processing.
They said authorities had frozen more than RM22mil in funds linked to 98 bank accounts with the arrests of 12 banking staff, one agent and eight directors and staff of a financial consultancy firm.
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They said authorities had frozen more than RM22mil in funds linked to 98 bank accounts with the arrests of 12 banking staff, one agent and eight directors and staff of a financial consultancy firm.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00Opsky is a case involving several players abroad, or you could say a broker company,
00:09and also involving bank officers.
00:12So, the spirit in this investigation is to involve the banking issue,
00:17involving individuals from various bank agencies or banking systems,
00:23which in the experiment we need to investigate in detail,
00:28because it involves a lot of money,
00:32and so that the loan settlement system can be implemented properly.
00:38Today, I have invited Datuk Si Mak Kul Syari to give his opinion on the Opsky case.
00:44In relation to the development of Opsky-related investigations,
00:48as Mr. Sri mentioned earlier,
00:50the SPRM has a serious view on the issue of loan settlement
00:56and other issues involving private companies,
01:02which supposedly act as financial consultants.
01:06In this case, I need to emphasize that the SPRM,
01:11together with the Bank of Malaysia and several banks involved,
01:18provide full cooperation to disseminate information
01:22related to the financial loan syndicate.
01:27As far as we are concerned,
01:30a total of 21 individuals have been detained to assist in the investigation.
01:37This includes 8 company executives,
01:408 executives and staff of a company,
01:4512 bank employees, and a public official who acts as an agent.
01:50So we do not deny the possibility of further arrests
01:56related to this case.
01:59In addition to that, when we talk about financial institutions,
02:04we also see another Ops that we call Ops Transit,
02:10where this company uses a unit trust.
02:14A unit trust is used to receive investment
02:17and disbursement of this investment for personal interests.
02:21So these are two examples of cases that we focus on
02:26related to financial and banking aspects in Malaysia.
02:31So we ask for cooperation from all parties involved
02:35to provide full cooperation to us.
02:38On Opsky, how many banks are involved?
02:43We cannot name the banks.
02:45I mean, I cannot give the names of the banks,
02:47but it involves more or less 5 or 6 banks that we know in Malaysia.
02:56And I think ladies and gentlemen,
02:58you usually keep this information in a safe place.
03:01So when this case is exposed,
03:05it is not ethical for me to mention the names of the banks involved.
03:14On Opsky, there are 21 people involved.
03:19How much is the loss?
03:22Loss?
03:24$700 million in loans.
03:26Okay, we have announced that the loan is worth $700 million.
03:29But we cannot say that is a form of loss.
03:34But we are doing an analysis and getting clarifications
03:39on how much bribery money is involved in this case.
03:45Because when I mention about
03:48more or less 0.5% to 1%,
03:52paid to the parties involved in the case,
03:56what is important to me, based on my experience,
04:00is not how much money is lost,
04:03but how much money has been received.
04:06This is my responsibility as an investigator
04:10to prove the issue of bribery here.
04:13If I say how much is the loss,
04:16actually the money has reached the plaintiff.
04:19But there are a lot of things from our investigation so far
04:24that have been violated in getting clarification.
04:30There are also parties that should easily get clarification,
04:34but it is difficult to get clarification.
04:39But when it goes through the concerned company or broker,
04:43it seems easy to get clarification.
04:46This is a form of injustice.
04:48So in our investigation,
04:50apart from us trying to get the money back,
04:55but there are cases involving a big issue
04:59related to governance,
05:01especially now when it involves banking.
05:06So if these things,
05:08the people themselves are violating the process of bribery,
05:12this is one thing that tomorrow,
05:14people will not have confidence in the banking system.
05:25Yes, it still remains that figure.
05:28Sorry, now it becomes 22,075,000.
05:32And the amount of bank accounts frozen also has increased?
05:35Yes, increased to 98.