SHAH ALAM, July 29 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested 12 individuals, including six Immigration Department officers and a police officer, for allegedly being involved in a syndicate that hacked the Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMs) to fraudulently approve Temporary Employment Visit Pass (PLKS) applications.
MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Abd Halim Aman said the suspects were arrested during a joint operation, codenamed ‘Ops Crack’, carried out with the Immigration Department beginning yesterday.
Those detained comprise two company directors, three foreign nationals, four Immigration officers, two officers from the department's Information Technology Division, and one police officer.
"Preliminary investigations found that the syndicate exploited 2011 PLKS quotas without paying the required levy for the passes issued.
"A total of 1,306 fraudulent PLKS passes were issued, resulting in estimated losses of RM2.4 million to the government," he said in a statement today.
Abd Halim said all the suspects, aged between their 30s and 40s, were arrested at the MACC headquarters and the Penang Immigration Department headquarters yesterday afternoon.
MACC also raided several company premises as well as Immigration offices in Penang and Putrajaya to assist investigations.
He said the operation followed intelligence-sharing between MACC's Intelligence Division and the Immigration Department's Intelligence Division, which had been conducted since May in the Klang Valley and Penang.
The operation also involved CyberSecurity Malaysia, Telekom Malaysia and MACC's Technology Forensics Division.
The case is being investigated under Sections 17(a) and 16(a) of the MACC Act 2009.
"All the suspects will be brought before the Putrajaya Magistrates' Court this morning for remand applications," he said.
