8/14/2019 Thesun 2009-07-21 Page01 Five Immigration Officers Nabbed

1/1

Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)

U!

No. 4806 PP 2644/12/2009 (023092)

TuesdayJuly 21, 2009

www.sun2surf.com

Saudi princess granted asylum in Britain pg9 Not a box office hit but pg15oingGoinggagaovergagaovertheladythelady pg19TELLING IT AS IT IS

300,000 COPIES DAILY

Award winning newspaperfor excellence in

investigative reporting

2009 AWARDS

30 SEN for delivery to your doorstep

KUALA LUMPUR: Ninepeople, including five JohorImmigration Departmentofficers, were arrested inseveral locations in the state

since Friday, for alleged involve-ment in an international humantrafficking syndicate.

The suspects were believed tohave received payments from a

syndicate for the sale of a groupof people, comprising mostlyRohingya refugees, as forcedlabour in various sectors like thefisheries industry.

Bukit Aman CID director DatukSeri Mohd Bakri Zinin said the po-lice had been monitoring the activi-ties of the suspects, aged between25 and 40, since March this year.

According to a victim, thesuspects were directly involved inhuman trafficking, starting fromthe Malaysia-Thai border to therat trail believed to be their exitpoint to international countries.

Upon reaching the exit point,the victims were handed over toa syndicate before being taken toa neighbouring country or sent

Two tendersfor World Expocontract, says MPby Tim Leonardnewsdesk@thesundaily.com

PETALING JAYA: The award of a contract todrug firm Venturepharm Asia Sdn Bhd to buildMalaysias pavilion at the 2010 World Expo inShanghai has raised more questions, with a

member of Parliament asking why the firsttender process in which Venturepharm did notparticipate was cancelled.

Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong, whofirst raised questions on Venturepharm inParliament last month, told theSun yesterdaythat Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yenmust explain why she cancelled the first tenderexercise.

In the first tender opened on March 13 andclosed on April 3, nine companies submittedproposals. Venturepharm was not on the list,he said. It was opened during Datuk AzalinaOthmans tenure as tourism minister. But whenthe new minister took office, a fresh tenderwas opened on May 13 and closed on June 4.Venturepharm came in only in the second ten-der and its proposal was not the cheapest.

He said the decision to award the contractto Venturepharm was not disclosed to thepublic and companies which lost the bid werenotified only later. Wee asked why Venturep-harm, which has no prior experience in this

field of work, was given the job.theSun yesterday reported that the Malay-

sian Anti-Corruption Commission was investi-gating the manner in which the RM19 millioncontract was awarded following a complaint.Wee said the contract was RM19.998 million.

Ng, when contacted last Friday, denied anypolitical link that could have influenced thedecision to appoint Venturepharm. She alsosaid that the contract was awarded via an opentender and she was not involved.

Venturepharm director Chen Oyan YunShai was unavailable for comments as she isbelieved to be overseas.

Two losing bidders in the tender contactedtheSun to express their disappointment overthe way the ministry handled the issue.

We lost some RM80,000 just preparing forthe bidding as we had to pay the architectsfee and come up with two sets of proposedmodels for the Malaysia Pavilion as we had togo through the tender process twice, said abidder, who declined to be named.

The World Expo is scheduled for May 1 toOct 31 next year.

back to Malaysia to work as forcedlabour, he told a press conferencehere yesterday.

The suspects have beenremanded until Friday, and wouldbe investigated under Section 13 ofthe Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act2007 which carries an imprison-ment for a term which may extendto 20 years and fine, if convicted.

Bakri said the suspects werebelieved to have worked closelywith the syndicate which had beenactive since last year, adding thatthe police were in the midst oftracking down syndicate membersand their accomplices.

Last month, the United Statesput Malaysia back on its listof countries suspected of notdoing enough to combat humantrafficking, together with six Africancountries, namely Chad, Eritrea,Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland andZimbabwe. Bernama

Seeking justice ... Mournersbearing a giant banner leadpolitical aide Teoh Beng Hockscortege as it heads for themain road in Alor Gajah enroute to Semenyih for burialat the Nirvana Memorial Parkyesterday. More than 1,500people attended the funeral ofTeoh, whose body was found onthe fifth floor of the building inShah Alam housing the SelangorMACC office.

4 OTHER SUSPECTS ALSO HELD FOR INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Five immigration

officers nabbed

Stories and picturesonPages 2and3