Madani Sahari, CEO Of MARii, Remanded By MACC. Under Investigation For Bribery

MARii’s CEO Madani Sahari is facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted under Section 17 MACC Act 2009.

The Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and Internet of Things (MARii) Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Madani Sahari is currently remanded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). This is according to a report published on BebasNews.my. Datuk Tan Kang Sai, Head of the MACC, was said to have confirmed the arrests. The report was later picked up by the News Straits Times, but with the faces blurred out.

The arrests were in connection with a project worth RM85 million that involved MARii. It was said to involve bribery amounting to as much as RM14.9 million in return for a grant. Besides MARii’s Dato’ Madani Sahari, 8 other individuals were unidentified, but include one Datuk, a medical consultant, a company director, an accountant and two other company heads. We wonder if the medical consultant in this case is the same one that was involved in this MARii venture, but the report indicates that the incident occurred between 2018 and 2020. Those brought in for this investigation are aged between 34 and 58. You can see them being escorted by MACC officials in the video below.

The Magistrate Court of Putrajaya issued the remand order, allowing MACC 3-6 days to have these suspects in custody for questioning. All suspects were charged under Section 17(a) of the 2009 MACC Act. That part of the act reads as follows:

Offence of giving or accepting gratification by agent

17. A person commits an offence if—

1. (a)  being an agent, he corruptly accepts or obtains, or agrees to accept or attempts to obtain, from any person, for himself or for any other person, any gratification as an inducement or a reward for doing or forbearing to do, or for having done or forborne to do, any act in relation to his principal’s affairs or business, or for showing or forbearing to show favour or disfavour to any person in relation to his principal’s affairs or business; or
2. (b)  he corruptly gives or agrees to give or offers any gratification to any agent as an inducement or a reward for doing or forbearing to do, or for having done or forborne to do any act in relation to his principal’s affairs or business, or for showing or forbearing to show favour or disfavour to any person in relation to his principal’s affairs or business.

The penalty for such an offence is imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of not less than 5 times the sum of the gratification in question.