One of the suspects involved is Riot’s political secretary.
The others include a 58-year-old with a “Datuk” title, a 34-year-old corporate secretary, a 32-year-old assistant financial officer, and a 38-year-old company director.
According to the Borneo Post, Riot said his political secretary had only been called in to assist the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its investigation, and that it was business as usual at PTPK despite the ongoing case.
“A person is innocent until proven guilty. Being investigated doesn’t mean they are convicted.
“Most people take it that the moment they are remanded by MACC, the first thing they will say ‘(they) have committed a crime, already convicted’. That should not be the way,” he was quoted as saying.
However, he added that he and his ministry would cooperate fully with MACC’s investigations.
On Sept 27, MACC chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad said the anti-graft agency had arrested the political secretary under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act.
The 61-year-old had reportedly held the post since June 2013.
The other four were detained on Sept 13 over allegations that they had misappropriated RM40 million from funds meant to have been used to train jobless individuals since 2016.
They were remanded for six days from Sept 14 and released on MACC bail.
Dzulkifli said then that MACC did not rule out the possibility of more arrests in relation to the case.