Malaysia's former federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was on Wednesday (Nov 14) arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
He will be charged on Thursday over dubious land deals relating to Kuala Lumpur City Hall.
Tengku Adnan, a member of parliament for Putrajaya and former UMNO secretary-general, was arrested at 3.25pm on Wednesday, shortly after arriving at the MACC headquarters to give a statement.
According to the Star, there were allegedly 97 dubious transactions involving more than 270ha of City Hall land worth RM5.63 billion (US$1.34 billion).
Tengku Adnan had said that he was called up at least 12 times by the MACC to provide information on the land transactions under the previous administration.
He said he had nothing to do with the approval of the sale of land during his term as minister of the federal territories, which comprise Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan.
"When I took over the (federal territories) ministry in 2013, I handed over land matters to the Prime Minister’s Department. I had nothing to do with any approval concerning land in the federal territory," he told parliament last month.
Several former ministers from UMNO have been charged since the Pakatan Harapan won the May general election.
Former prime minister Najib Razak faces abuse of power and money laundering charges in relation to the investigation on state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
According to MACC, Tengku Adnan will be jointly charged with businessman Tan Eng Boon at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court at 2.30pm on Thursday.
(Published by Channel New Asia, November 14, 2018)