Four high-ranking officials, including the CEO of SDFC, have been remanded for six days over a RM40mil case of embezzling government funds meant for the benefit of the people.
- One of the suspects said to be a state Umno division office-bearer
- The government allocated RM75m in 2016 and 2017, RM40m of which was embezzled
- Funds supposed to be for school leavers, the unemployed pursue skills training
- The 3 SDFC suspects collaborated with the company director by allowing his 15 companies to manage training programmes
- None of the companies have the expertise to conduct such training
The four remanded include Skills Development Fund Corp (SDFC) chief executive officer, who is a 58-year-old Datuk, its 34-year-old secretary, a 32-year-old assistant financial officer and a 38-year-old private company director with a ‘Dr’ title.
One of the suspects is said to be an office-bearer with a state Umno division.
They were arrested by officers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at several locations in Kuala Lumpur between 4.30pm and 6pm on Wednesday.
The four arrived at the magistrate’s court in Putrajaya at 10.35am, clad in MACC lock-up attire and handcuffed.

An MACC spokesperson said they were detained under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act 2009 for soliciting and accepting bribe.
SDFC is a statutory body under the Human Resources Ministry.
It is tasked with providing financial assistance in the form of loans to individuals, such as school leavers, the unskilled and the unemployed for pursuing Malaysian Skills Certification, Malaysian Skills Diploma and Malaysian Advanced Skills Diploma at public or private skills training institutions.
It is learnt that the misappropriation of funds has been going on since last year.
The Government allocated RM35 million to the corporation in 2016 and another RM40 million this year to carry out training programmes.
Three of the suspects were said to have collaborated with the company director to have 15 of his registered companies manage the training programmes.
However, none of his companies were said to have the expertise to conduct such training.
The Star cited a source saying: “Initial investigations showed RM15 million was believed to have been siphoned off last year. Another RM 25 million is believed to have been misappropriated this year.”
Federal MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Azam Baki said the agency is in the midst of acquiring documents linked to the alleged swindle and will soon summon witnesses to assist in the probe.
“We need to carry out a thorough probe as it involves public funds and do not discount the possibilities of arresting more people,” Azam said.
Earlier report: Sep 14, Datuk and Three Others Nabbed by MACC in RM40M Graft Probe