MACC to charge company directors with taking RM3mil in bribes
By Lourdes Charles, The star
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested several directors of a company that won the bid to build the RM238.8mil controversial phase of the Middle Ring Road (MRR2).
It is learnt that the directors, three of them Datuks, were arrested on June 5 when they went to the Selangor MACC office to assist in investigations.
The directors, in their 50s, have been released on bail and are expected to be charged under the Anti-Corruption Act 1957 with accepting bribes.
Sources familiar with the investigations said investigations revealed that they allegedly demanded and accepted more than RM3mil from another company which took over the construction of the troubled 1.7km elevated road project. The construction of Package 11 of the project involved interchanges and the upgrading of 4km of existing roads to a six-lane dual carriageway.
The sources said the MACC was still investigating all those involved in the construction of the controversial MRR2 package.
They said investigators, including forensic experts, were checking if there were irregularities in construction as the highway was forced to be closed to traffic twice due to hairline cracks on several tiers supporting the elevated road.
Kuala Lumpur MRR2 was one of the Federal Government projects to help ease traffic congestion in the city centre.
Package 11, which got off in May 1998 and completed in 2002, was commonly referred to as the “missing link” as it was the last portion of the 35km ring road to be completed.
The 1.7km flyover on the MRR2 was closed due to hairline cracks on several tiers supporting the elevated road in 2004.
In 2006, about RM70mil was spent to repair the cracks that appeared on 31 of the 33 pillars.
On Aug 3, last year, a ramp at the MRR2 was closed when some panels fell from one of the pillars of the highway.
