Mandiri duo in the dark over alleged offence in money laundering probe

Activists Amir Hadi and Dobby Chew, who co-head the rights group Mandiri, appeared at Bukit Aman's commercial crime investigation department today for questioning in connection with an alleged offence. The activists stated that authorities have not clarified what specific offence they are being investigated for. Police officers from the anti-money laundering unit raided the shared office of Mandiri and another NGO, Hayat, last week, but only referred to "suspicious funds" as the reason for the probe.

However, merely having suspicious funds does not constitute a criminal offence unless they stem from illicit sources such as terrorism financing or illegal gambling. The activists expressed hope that the investigating officer would provide more details about the predicate offence. On September 18, over 20 police officers conducted a raid on an office shared by Mandiri and Hayat in Petaling Jaya, seizing various financial records and documents.