Azam said a joint investigation with the police revealed that the firm had failed to pay its taxes, leading to a RM600 million penalty and a RM300 million compound, both of which the company paid off, Harian Metro reported.

He added that he could not name the firm for now, even though the authorities had successfully recovered the evaded taxes.

“This is just one company. There is another firm that was ordered to pay RM28 million, comprising RM20 million in taxes and an RM8 million MACC compound,” he added.

According to Azam, the second case was jointly probed by MACC and the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) after the company evaded taxes for several years.

He said it was challenging to prove that bribery took place in tax evasion cases due to the difficulties in tracking the money trail.

“Hence, I prefer to recover the money through compounds and the repayment of the evaded taxes, although the company will still be subject to other enforcement actions,” he added.

Azam also said MACC must deliberate on whether to bring the case to court or directly recover a large sum of funds that can be used by the government immediately.

Azam said hauling culprits to court may end up with the guilty party defaulting on the fines, while it was tough to identify the specific corporate figures responsible when prosecuting a company.

“It is better for us to (directly) get that RM900 million back for the government and for the people,” he added.