MACC now says there is a case involving Zakat money

February 14, 2023

MACC now says there is a case involving Zakat money

KUALA LUMPUR: Less than a week after the Negri Sembilan Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had said there was no evidence of embezzlement of zakat funds in the state in 2019, the commission’s federal set-up has said investigations are indeed on-going.

MACC senior investigations director Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hashim said today a case has been opened and is currently under investigation regarding claims of misappropriation and embezzlement of zakat money involving the Negri Sembilan Islamic Religious Council in 2019.

He said the focus of the investigation were corruption and abuse of power.

Hishamuddin said the case was being re-examined by looking into the statements and will be referred back to the deputy public prosecutor.

On Thursday, Negri Sembilan MACC director Awgkok Ahmad Taufik Putra Awg Ismail had said an investigation paper into the alleged embezzlement was opened back in 2019 and completed that year.

“The investigation found no evidence of a criminal offence of corruption under the MACC Act 2009,” he had said in a statement.

DISYORKAN UNTUK ANDA :

A day later, Negri Sembilan Muafakat Nasional (MN) chief and activist Badrul Hisham Shaharin had issued an ultimatum of a week for all sides involved in the investigation of corruption and embezzlement involving the zakat funds to provide a valid explanation on the issue.

He had said MN would seek an audience with the Yang Dipertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan if nothing came of it.

“We will take action if at all there is no explanation or positive response. When we say explanation, we mean there must be answers for all the chronology that we have given… it cannot be an answer of ‘no case’,” he had said.

Badrul Hisham, who had handed in documents related to the alleged embezzlement to MACC, had said the issue of zakat funds was sensitive for Muslims and therefore required a proper, valid explanation.