KUALA LUMPUR: Australian police have arrested a Malaysian believed to be part of an international crime syndicate that pulled in more than RM150 million the past year in hit-and-run ATM scams in various cities there.

The police believe Sedwin Astephen, 30, stole more than RM450,000 from ATMs in a monthlong spree from mid-January, using details stolen from New South Wales citizens' bank accounts.

Astephen was arrested last Saturday as he was about to return to Malaysia from Brisbane Airport.

KUALA LUMPUR: A high-ranking MIC leader allegedly authorised the purchase of RM1 million worth of books for Tamil schools nationwide, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) learnt yesterday.

Sources said former MIED Capital Sdn Bhd chairman Tan Sri M. Mahalingam told MACC officers that the sum came from Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED), which is under investigation.

KUALA LUMPUR: Both men were triumphant allies on the battleground last year but are now sworn enemies at the ballot box.

President Mahinda Rajapakse will face his former army chief Sarath Fonseka tomorrow in an absorbing contest as war scarred Sri Lanka holds a peace-time presidential  election after a bitter and highly personal campaign between the duo who engineered the crushing of an almost four-decade-long civil war.

KUALA LUMPUR: The flareup by the normally innocuous MIC deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel, who machine-gunned party chief Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu (pic) in a rare verbal onslaught during the Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED) meeting on Monday, is a strong sign of discontent between the top two, say party leaders.

KUALA LUMPUR :  The MIC's jewel in the crown, Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED), has been dealt another blow with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) investigating it for alleged violation of eight sections under the Companies Act.

The commission, in a letter dated Dec 21, 2009, informed the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob that investigations were under way.

KUALA LUMPUR: The nine trustees of MIC's billion-ringgit educational flagship Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED) have been slammed with an unprecedented legal action that could provide an insight into alleged irregularities that has wrecked the credibility of the party.

The derivative action under Section 181 of the Companies Act 1965 means the MIED — that operates on government grants and public donations — would be the plaintiff if the court allows the class action to proceed.

KUALA LUMPUR: A 165cm (5ft 5in) "short" foreigner checked into a city hotel last Friday and set off tall alert plumes rising from highrise building owners puffing on cigars the size of bazookas.

Showtime!

He was no ordinary tourist. He is a Frenchman whose very presence in the country gets the guardians of skyscrapers squirming.

KUALA LUMPUR: Well-respected consultant chest physician Tan Sri Dr K. Ampikaipakan has resigned as chairman of AIMST Sdn Bhd, the management company of Malaysia’s first private university, Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology University (AIMST).

KUALA LUMPUR: There is all around consensus, cutting across the political divide that the rift between the Kelantan palace and the Menteri Besar’s office must be resolved amicably.

State leaders and politicians, The Malay Mail spoke with, expressed disappointment that it was being played out in the open.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and State Secretary Mohd Aiseri Alias were among several top State and palace officials who reportedly snubbed a royal order to discuss pressing matters with the Sultan of Kelantan, sources said.

The reason for their no-show at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where the Sultan is recovering from a heart ailment since May, is not known.

KUALA LUMPUR: Royal guards sneaked two unknown women into the royal suite of the recovering Ruler of Kelantan, Sultan Ismail Petra, at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore in the wee hours of the morning, it has shockingly emerged.

KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC’s education arm, Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED), can do nothing if none of the estimated 10,000 students repays study loans amounting close to RM100 million.

This is because the MIED had illegally given out study loans that carried an accruing interest rate of six per cent per annum.

Sources said the RM100 million, outstanding as of end 2008, would have to be written off and it was pointless blacklisting the defaulters as the MIED has no legal recourse for loan recovery.

KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC’s billion-ringgit educational flagship Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED) is in turbulent waters, following a legal notice against its eight trustees by one of its own members alleging serious irregularities, ranging from financial mismanagement to abuse of power.

The action, by prominent lawyer politician  S. Vigneswaran, is expected to open the vault of “secrets” in the alleged issue of personal loans of some RM100 million to individuals, company officials and at least one trustee.

Residents in the immediate vicinity of the clubhouse on Jalan Birah, Damansara Heights, said they were weary of constant ruckus from the club, especially during parties and special events.

KUALA LUMPUR: The billion-ringgit Maju Institute for Education Development (MIED) — an MIC company that operates with government grants and public donations — has this year been operating with an unlawfully constituted board of directors.

The four AGMs in one sitting, covering 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, has stunned MIED life members who describe the move as unlawful as such meetings should be held annual

Lim, who was also an athlete of his Seremban school, was a bogus taxi driver who preyed on more than 100 "intoxicated and vulnerable" young men over four years from 2003.

AUTHORITIES here are exasperated over the bizarre absence of communication by the British government in the expulsion of convicted child-killer Agnes Wong, 29, to Malaysia early this month.
The Home Ministry, the premier authority in cases involving deportation, is in the dark while Malaysian Interpol yesterday confirmed that it had also not been informed about the return of the sadistic killer.

FULL STORY IN MALAY MAIL PRINT COPY TODAY

MALAYSIAN child killer Agnes Wong who was convicted of the horrific murder of a 17-month-old baby boy is planning to buy a house and start a small business with the £4,500 (RM25,400) given to her by the British Government as a ‘bribe’ to leave the country, it was learnt.

FULL STORY IN MALAY MAIL PRIT COPY TODAY