The detention followed the arrest of a former deputy registrar of titles at the Perak land and mines office, who was charged in the Ipoh sessions court last month.

The investigation revealed that the company was suspected of paying bribes to government officials to change the status of Malay reserve land to non-Malay land in Sitiawan, Berita Harian (BH) reported, quoting a source.

“After the status change, the land was subdivided into various lots for residential use and sold to non-Malays as their property.

“MACC has so far detected a total of 317 subdivision titles or lots from the 650ha of Malay reserve land, the ownership of which was changed,” the source told BH today.

The source added that MACC was investigating criminal incidents that occurred several years ago involving the suspect’s deceased relatives.

MACC investigation division senior director Hishamuddin Hashim confirmed the arrest and said the detention was made under the MACC Act 2009 for bribery.

He said the agency would apply for a remand order from the Ipoh magistrates’ court today.

On April 30, a former Perak land and mines officer pleaded not guilty at the Ipoh sessions court to cheating the Perak agricultural land board, resulting in the subdivision of Malay reserve land in 2012, Bernama reported.

Rosli Che Mohamed, 64, entered the plea after the charge was read before judge Ibrahim Osman.

Rosli, as deputy registrar of titles at the time, was charged with deceiving the Perak agricultural land board into believing that land parcels PN 174770-174772 and PT 17527-17529 in Sitiawan, Manjung, were not Malay reserve land through a Perak land and mines director’s office data correction form dated March 25, 2011.

This prompted the board to approve a land subdivision application for the ownership of PN 174772, Lot 17527, to 317 plots covering an area of approximately 649ha in Sitiawan, Manjung, to Nadi Agrobusiness Sdn Bhd, a decision the board alleges it would not have made had it known otherwise.