PETALING JAYA: A man who used to serve as the special officer to a former Felda chairman was arrested today by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to facilitate investigations into the purchase of a hotel in Kuching by a Felda subsidiary three years ago.

According to MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad, the man was nabbed at 4am.

“He will be remanded later in the evening,” Dzulkifli told reporters during the launch of Sahabat Gerah here today.

Last Friday, the MACC arrested three people in connection with the purchase of the hotel by Felda Investment Corp (FIC).

Of the three, two are directors of a company appointed as an agent to manage the sale.

The two directors, aged 47 and 51, were arrested when they went to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya to give statements in connection with the case.

Another person who was arrested at the MACC office in Kuching at 1.30pm today was a 57-year old company director who owned the hotel.

Dzulkifli had previously directed that investigation papers be opened as the hotel was allegedly purchased at a price higher than the market price.

In a statement released on July 28, the MACC said its investigating teams raided six locations in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching to gather information on the purchase in 2014, before seizing some documents.

The MACC said that based on early information obtained in the case, FIC was believed to have bought the hotel at a price much higher than the original, causing it to suffer losses amounting to hundreds of millions of ringgit.

MACC arrests 3 over FIC’s Kuching hotel purchase

MACC probes FIC’s hotel deal in Kuching