The first individual, a company director, 46, was arrested at the Putrajaya MACC office at around 8.30pm yesterday while two managers, aged 35 and 46, were arrested at the Pahang MACC office at around 4.30pm yesterday, a source from the anti-graft agency said.

The director was detained on suspicion of submitting a false claim worth over RM1 million to the Social Security Organisation (Socso) to obtain allocations under the National Economic Recovery Programme (Penjana) but the programme was not fully implemented.

“Both company managers were arrested on suspicion of submitting false claims to Socso amounting to more than RM600,000 for the same reasons,” the source added.

The director has been remanded for four days till July 22 while the managers have been remanded for five days till July 23.

MACC senior director of investigation Hishamuddin Hashim confirmed the arrests and said the cases would be investigated under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009.

To date, 45 suspects have been arrested under Ops Hire.