The Malaysian Insight

HUMAN Resources Minister M. Saravanan today said there are no reports of MIC members being arrested in the ongoing Employment Recruitment Incentives Programme (PenjanaKerjaya) investigation.

The MIC deputy president also said there were no raids conducted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the Human Resources Ministry, as was reported earlier today by a news portal.

“No raids at the ministry. I also said yesterday I have not received any information about MIC members being arrested,” he said.

“What I said was, if any MIC member was arrested, it should not be linked to the party.

“For now, I have no information on who was arrested. Ask the MACC. I don’t have any answers.”

To date, MACC has arrested 42 people in its ongoing probe into allegations of false claims and misappropriation of PenjanaKerjaya funds amounting to RM100 million.

Sources earlier told The Malaysian Insight that the 42 are being investigated under section 18 of the MACC Act 2009, adding there will be more arrests soon under Ops Hire.

Ops Hire was launched last week nationwide where 37 people were picked up for allegedly using the PenjanaKerjaya platform to make false claims.

Among those arrested were company directors, business owners, managers and engineers – 26 men and 11 women between the ages of 28 and 70, involving 64 private companies.

These companies were supposed to hire individuals and provide training for the industrial sector, but initial investigations revealed that they were allegedly making false claims.

The firms allegedly used data from outsiders and worked closely with those involved in the training programme.

Checks also revealed most of the individuals were never employed by the companies, which are currently being investigated.

PenjanaKerjaya, under Budget 2021, is an enhanced version of the previous Hiring Incentive Programme with better rates and incentives to promote the creation of quality jobs and reduce unemployment among locals. – July 18, 2022.