KUALA LUMPUR: The recent arrest of a “Datuk Seri” attached to Kuala Lumpur City Hall has led the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to believe that corrupt practices could be occurring at an “unprecedented” scale at one of the biggest local councils in the country.

The New Straits Times learnt that MACC will soon be calling in up to 30 more City Hall officers for questioning over graft practices.

These officers were believed to have been working in cahoots with the Datuk Seri in getting gratification from developers by abusing their positions.

The officers are believed to have made easy money by leveraging the network established by their superior.

MACC investigation director Datuk Azam Baki said officers of various ranks were believed to have been milking housing developers forced to deal with City Hall for various approvals to get free condominium units, which were later sold at higher prices.

“Our investigations revealed that no less than 30 City Hall officers obtained condominium units through corrupt ways without making any advance payments.

“The modus operandi is quite sophisticated, where both parties sign sales and purchase agreements without any monetary transaction actually taking place, and the units are later sold at market value once the project is completed,” he said.

A Malay daily had on Tuesday reported that the Datuk Seri allegedly owned 31 condominium units worth more than RM15.5 million.

Utusan Malaysia reported that the condominium units, all located here, were purchased without any down payment from five “rogue” developers who had business dealings with City Hall.

Azam yesterday told the NST that the crooked leader, who was supposed to monitor his “downline” officers, was the main cause of the widespread misconduct.

He said some of the City Hall officers, who will be called in soon, were bold enough to contact housing developers to ask for similar deals as their boss had struck, despite not having any working connection with them at all.

“Some of them didn’t even deal directly with these developers, but when they know their bosses is getting something, they, too, want their share.

“It happened because their high-ranking officer was part of the network.” Azam said housing developers who had entered into deals with the City Hall officers would also face the music.

“We will investigate these developers. “We are now identifying the involvement of each and every party in this misconduct,” he said, adding that there were at least three developers involved in the scam.

Azam said following the discovery of corrupt practices in City Hall, MACC hoped to work with the council to plug loopholes in their standard operating procedure (SOP).

“Part of our investigation is to look into the real issue, that is how these people managed to get such deals.

“We welcome the mayor’s (Datuk Seri Mhd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz) willingness to cooperate with MACC to look into City Hall’s SOP and the departments’ integrity.”

Azam also praised the public for being forthcoming in sharing information to assist the commission in its investigations.

“Ever since the story about this Datuk Seri’s arrest was published, we have been getting many complaints and information from the public on the issue.

“I am very thankful to the public for giving us the extra information, which will help us with our investigation,” he said. Mhd Amin declined to comment when asked on the possibility that more City Hall officers would be arrested by the MACC.

“I don’t want to comment. This whole mess has affected the morale of our staff,” he said.-nst