{
  "id": 3867738,
  "title": "Saravanan charged with receiving RM1.097mil in bribes over foreign worker quotas",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/28/saravanan-charged-with-receiving-rm1-097mil-in-bribes-over-foreign-3867738",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-28T01:29:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today-freemalays",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/08/28/saravanan-charged-with-receiving-rm1-097mil-in-bribes-over-foreign-worker-quotas"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Malaysian human resources minister M Saravanan has been formally charged with accepting bribes totalling RM1.097 million, according to prosecutors. The allegations stem from payments Saravanan allegedly received between June and July 2022 from Tan Teck Lim, the director of Vectica Resources Sdn Bhd. Saravanan, 58, pleaded not guilty to the charges during his initial court appearance. The bribes are said to have been used as an inducement to approve the allocation of 1,000 foreign worker quotas for TYKB Engineering Sdn Bhd. The three payments were made in separate instances - RM150,000 in cash at the Bukit Jalil Golf & Country Resort on June 16, RM350,000 in cash at Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar on July 7, and RM597,000 through a Maybank Islamic cheque deposited on July 7. All three instances of alleged bribery are charged under Section 16(a)(B) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.",
  "summary": "The former human resources minister pleads not guilty to three charges under the MACC Act 2009.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Saravanan charged with receiving RM1.097mil in bribes over foreign worker quotas",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/28/saravanan-charged-with-receiving-rm1-097mil-in-bribes-over-foreign",
        "published": "2026-08-28T01:29:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Malaysiakini",
        "title": "Saravanan pleads not guilty to receiving RM1.097m bribes",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/28/saravanan-pleads-not-guilty-to-receiving-rm1-097m-bribes",
        "published": "2026-08-28T01:35:18.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "New Straits Times",
        "title": "Saravanan pleads not guilty to accepting RM1.1mil in bribes over foreign worker quotas",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/28/saravanan-pleads-not-guilty-to-accepting-rm1-1mil-in-bribes-over",
        "published": "2026-08-28T01:49:19.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}