Doubts raised over RM1.1 million find in engineer’s home
Family of civil servant whose house was raided by the MACC, claim official brought in box full of money.
GEORGE TOWN: Family members of a Public Works Department assistant engineer in Kedah whose house was raided by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), claim they saw an official bring in a box full of cash during the incident.
The son and daughter-in-law of Ishak Ismail, 56, who works at the department’s office in Sik, lodged two police reports on the matter following the raid at the family home in Alor Setar on Jan 19, and want investigations on the matter to be hastened.
Izzul Syazwan Ishak, 28, said the family was considering legal action against the MACC after a Malay language daily, quoting MACC’s Kedah state director, reported the next day that a total of RM1.1mil had been found in the house during the raid.
“The family is now contemplating suing the MACC and bringing this case to the courts to be adjudicated, and appeal to the police for investigations on the reports to be expedited,” he said, reading a prepared statement at the office of his lawyer Ramkarpal Singh here today.
Ramkarpal said he wrote to the chief of the Guar Chempedak police station on Feb 1 to enquire about the status of investigations on the two reports lodged there but had yet to receive any response.
In the reports made by Izzul and his wife Siti Noor Fishah Mohd Zuki on Jan 22, it was stated that Siti saw a man believed to be an MACC officer, bring in a box full of money during the raid, containing what she claims were RM50 notes.
They also said that another man brought a heavily loaded backpack and took it to the top floor of the house where no family members were allowed to go.
On Feb 16 Ishak was charged in the Alor Setar Sessions Court with five counts of corruption related to soliciting and receiving bribes totalling RM210,000 as inducement to help a contractor secure tree felling, road maintenance and upgrading projects in Sik last year.
Ramkarpal noted that the amount was far less than the RM1.1 million reported in the media. He also questioned how such a large amount of money could have been brought into the house.
He said the family was awaiting the outcome of police investigations and was contemplating legal action.
He stressed that both he and the family had yet to see the document related to the charges, which did not refer to the raid by the MACC.
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Ishak has pleaded not guilty and claimed trial to all charges. He was freed on bail of RM30,000. The case is set for mention on March 28.