Phee’s lawyer, R S N Rayer, said he was “mystified” why his client was arrested when he voluntarily went to the MACC office to have his statement taken.
Rayer said Phee, who is Sungai Puyu assemblyman, would be taken to court tomorrow morning to be remanded.
“While his statement was being taken, we were told that Putrajaya ordered him to be placed under arrest.
“We were not told why he was placed under arrest.
“I have personally pleaded to the officers to let him go after questioning tonight. They said they will consider,” Rayer told reporters outside the state MACC headquarters here.
Phee and Rayer arrived at the MACC office at 2.40pm, but they did not entertain any questions from the press.
Earlier, MACC officers visited Phee at his office in Komtar at 11.30am and left two hours later with suitcases of documents, likely taken from his office.
Although the officers did not state the reason for the raid, it was believed to be linked to a case of a factory found to have flouted environmental regulations.
Phee was previously arrested for being part of the Voluntary Patrol Squad or PPS, which was outlawed by the Home Ministry. No charges were made against him or about 160 PPS members who were stopped while taking part in a Merdeka march-past in 2014.
Today’s raid follows yesterday’s multi-agency sting on a sawdust factory in Bukit Mertajam, which was found to have flouted many federal regulations.
The Department of Environment found the factory did not have a proper air pollution control system.
The factory was also allegedly operating illegally on agriculture land in Sungai Lembu.
The MACC, Immigration Department, the Environment Department and the Inland Revenue Board jointly conducted the operation.
Besides the factory, the Seberang Perai Municipal Council’s licensing department, too, was raided by the MACC yesterday. The officers left with heaps of documents.
MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Azam Baki confirmed the raid yesterday but did not reveal other details.
A resident told The Sun the factory had been emitting noxious fumes for the past “15 years”, without much action taken by the authorities here.