Over 1,000 nabbed for graft since 2014

KUALA LUMPUR • Cash, valuables and property worth some RM172 million (S$56.7 million) were seized by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) between 2014 and September this year.

This followed the arrest of 1,011 government officers and 26 officers of government-linked companies (GLCs) during the same period for money-laundering and corruption, said Datuk Paul Low, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Meanwhile, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, said 5,778 government officers and GLC officers were sacked between 2010 and July this year, following disciplinary action taken against 31,263 officers.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

China names new finance minister

BEIJING • China yesterday replaced veteran reformer Lou Jiwei with a new finance minister who will be tasked with juggling fiscal stimulus and efforts to rein in excess leverage in the world's second-largest economy.

Mr Xiao Jie, 59, previously a senior aide to Premier Li Keqiang, will replace 65-year-old Mr Lou, who has held the job for a little more than three years, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

BLOOMBERG

Dentsu raided over possible labour abuse

TOKYO • Dentsu Inc, Japan's largest advertising agency, said its offices were raided by the Labour Ministry yesterday.

Local broadcaster NHK said the raids were prompted by suspicion that several workers had been forced to work long hours in violation of labour laws.

The new raids followed previous inspections to check if overwork abuses were pervasive after a 24-year-old female Dentsu employee committed suicide in December last year. She had worked 105 hours last October and fell into depression. The ministry ruled her death "karoshi" - literally "death by overwork".

REUTERS