(NST) - The two Parti Keadilan Rakyat assemblymen, accused of receiving kickbacks from a contractor involved in sand mining in Selangor, may be recalled by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which has widened its scope of investigations.

This was revealed by MACC investigations director Datuk Mustafar Ali, who said if the need arose, then the two would be called in again.

The two, Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei (Sri Muda) and Amirudin Shari (Batu Caves), were initially questioned by MACC in July 2010.

On Thursday, the commission’s Operations Evaluation Panel instructed that the investigations be “revisited” as there were many unanswered questions.

“The panel scrutinised our investigation papers and instructed us to look at other angles in the investigations, to focus on different angles of offences,” said Mustafar.

When asked if this meant that MACC was looking at different types of crimes, Mustafar refused to comment as it was an ongoing investigation.

He, however, said the investigators would have more work to do after panel chairman Tan Sri Dr Hadenan Abdul Jalil directed the Legal and Prosecution Division to “revisit” the case.

'Investigators need to gather more evidence'

"We are digging deeper. We will take as much time as possible before submitting the case to the deputy public prosecutor," Mustafar said.

The panel was briefed on the progress of the investigations into the case by MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdull and Mustafar on Thursday.

Hadenan had said that the investigators needed to gather more evidence.

The sand mining activities were recently brought to light by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin who claimed that it was no coincidence that the two assemblymen were registered as directors of Double Dignity (M) Sdn Bhd, the company implicated in the sand-mining operations in Dengkil, Sepang.

Raja Petra had alleged that Mat Shuhaimi told a contractor to set up Double Dignity and include both assemblymen as directors. The contractor then submitted an application to Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd to mine sand in Dengkil. Kumpulan Semesta is a Selangor state-owned company involved in mining and selling sand in Selangor.

A copy of the application was allegedly sent to Mat Suhaimi and Amirudin who supported the application and allegedly received kickbacks for it.