Customs officer's death: MACC suspends two

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has suspended two officers, including one who left Selangor Customs assistant director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed unattended before he was found dead on the first floor of the MACC office in Jalan Cochrane here Wednesday.

According to an MACC statement Thursday, the officers were suspended with immediate effect, pending the outcome of the investigations into the death of Ahmad Sarbani.

Sources said the MACC had issued instructions to all its officers nationwide, after the Teoh Beng Hock incident, that all witnesses and suspects, including those having dealings with the MACC, not to be left unattended.

They said the move was to ensure nothing untoward occurred that could cast any doubts on what could have taken place.

(Teoh, who was the political secretary to Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah, was taken to the Selangor MACC office on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, for questioning over alleged illegal disbursement of state funds on July 15, 2009. He was found dead at the building's fifth floor service corridor the following day.)

The sources also said the MACC had taken necessary precautions and action, and had installed CCTVs at strategic location inside the building.

The five-storey building in Jalan Cochrane, which was opened in December last year, was equipped with CCTVs but not at the windows or outside.

The sources also said a number of MACC offices nationwide were leased from other government departments and only a few belonged to the MACC.

Ahmad Sarbani, who fell to his death from the third floor, had been released on bail on April 2, after being picked up during the commission's investigation into a syndicate laundering billions of ringgit via tax evasion activities.

His body was found sprawled in an open air badminton court located on the first floor of the building at about 10.20am.

Ahmad Sarbani had gone to the MACC office here on his own accord. Initial findings revealed he had arrived at the building alone on a motorcycle at 8.26am.

Source : The Star