PUTRAJAYA:The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has frozen 61 bank accounts with a total value of RM15 million in connection with the illegal processing and disposal of electrical and electronic waste, or e-waste.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya said 26 people, including company owners, directors and enforcement officers, had been arrested.

“We believe the enforcement officers arrested were protecting the e-waste collection centres involved,” he told the media at the MACC headquarters here today.

Khusairi said 420 foreign workers at the e-waste disposal sites were also detained by the immigration department.

Earlier, 12 electronic waste factories in Telok Panglima Garang, Selangor, and Buloh Kasap, Segamat, Johor, were raided during a joint operation involving the MACC, the immigration department and the environment department.

The operation followed intelligence indicating that company owners and trade officers were suspected of bribing enforcement personnel to process and dispose of prohibited electronic waste.