JOHOR BARU: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has detained six individuals, including a district engineer and two assistant engineers of a central agency in Johor, for allegedly accepting bribes from contractors in a district under their jurisdiction.

       According to a source, the district engineer and the two assistants were detained in a series of raids carried out around the state on Sunday (July 25) morning.

       MACC also detained three contractors to help with the investigation as they were alleged to have paid bribes to the other three to obtain projects offered by the agency at a district in Johor since 2018.

       All the six are between the ages of 31 and 44 years.

       It is learnt that the contractors control 11 companies under their names or through proxies and monopolised the projects, worth millions of ringgit, offered by the agency within the district between 2018 and this year.

       According to a source, various forms of bribery were given to the three suspects, including vacation packages, cash and valuables, including a boat.

       All six suspects were brought to a Magistrate's Court here on Monday (July 26).

       Five were remanded for seven days until Aug 1, while another suspect is under remand until Friday (July 30), to assist with the investigation under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act.

       MACC intelligence director Datuk Azmi Kamaruzaman confirmed the arrest.

       He, however, declined to elaborate.