This is the biggest “corruption bust ever” in the nation’s history – RM114million recovered from the top two officials of the Sabah Water Department, including RM53.7mil in cold hard cash that took more than 30 officers 15 hours to count.

Also recovered from the homes and offices of the department’s director and his deputy were nine mostly luxury vehicles, expensive watches, jewellery and 94 high-end handbags.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said the cash – RM45mil seized from the director and RM7.5mil from his deputy – was found stashed inside safes, cupboards, drawers and also a car boot.

Also seized was RM1.18mil in over half-a-dozen foreign currencies.

Among the vehicles seized were a BMW 535i (which costs RM500,000), Mercedes-Benz C300 (RM308,000), Range Rover SE V8 (RM1.1mil), Mazda6 (RM195,000), Volvo XC60 (RM270,000), Lexus ES (RM260,000), Audi A1 (RM180,000) and Ford Ranger (RM112,000) – in all, the cars total some RM3mil in value.

The luxury watches comprised brands like Patek Philippe, Tag Heuer, Rolex, Cartier and Guess while the handbags included Chanel, Burberry, Versace, Louis Vuitton and Hermes.

The two senior state civil officers were arrested by MACC yesterday and remanded for a week for investigations into alleged kickbacks involving RM3.3bil worth of federal infrastructure projects.

The corruption figure may even reach a staggering RM300 million as MACC revealed the amount of money, in cash and from accounts of the suspects, recovered so far did not include the value of properties and possible deposits made overseas. Read the rest of this entry »