The remand application was made by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) before senior assistant registrar Nur Fadrina Zulkhairi.

Fadrina allowed the application for the 12 police officers, who were aged between 31 and 59.

The 12 men, said to hold the ranks of superintendent, assistant superintendent and inspector, all served in high-ranking positions at the Penang police headquarters.

A MACC source had revealed that the men had allegedly been receiving “fees” from lorry transport companies since last July in exchange for a lack of action against overloaded vehicles.

This came after MACC’s prosecution last year of Road Transport Department officers in Penang said to be running a protection racket for lorry companies committing offences.

The landmark case saw 254 counts of bribery against 27 officers from the transport regulator who received RM240,360 in bribes from 2015 to 2018 from haulier companies to escape enforcement.

It was touted as the largest corruption case brought against the federal agency since its inception 74 years ago.