A file photo of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on Feb 1, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Ken Cedeno)

US charges three Malaysian state telecoms officials for multimillion-dollar fraud

Three senior executives at the US subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia allegedly misappropriated over US$20 million from the state telecommunications firm through false statements and forged records on various occasions between July 2020 and February 2026.

20 May 2026, 07:05 · CNA · Join

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KUALA LUMPUR: The United States has charged three senior employees of Telekom Malaysia (TM) for allegedly misappropriating over US$20 million from the Malaysian state telecommunications firm, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday (May 19).

Mohd Hafiz Lockman, Mohd Yuzaimi Yusof, and Khanh Thuong Nguyen, who were senior executives at the US subsidiary of TM, were accused of using false statements and forged records to siphon funds from the company and deceive counterparties, suppliers, auditors and supervisors in the US on various occasions between July 2020 and February 2026, authorities said.

"These three individuals are alleged to have conducted a deliberate and calculated embezzlement scheme, falsifying corporate records for their own financial benefit," FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. said in a statement.

Mohd Hafiz was arrested at San Francisco airport, while the other two accused turned themselves in to authorities last month. The trio were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, the DOJ said.

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Mohd Hafiz, Mohd Yuzaimi and Nguyen could not be immediately reached for comment.

TM said in a statement that the trio were dismissed from the firm after an internal investigation into suspected misconduct, with the probe findings later shared with relevant authorities.

The company would continue to fully cooperate with the DOJ, it said.

The DOJ said it declined to file charges against TM itself, after the company self-reported the criminal conduct. Reuters reported in March that the department was rolling out a policy to encourage firms to report criminal misconduct in exchange for reduced penalties and other benefits.

The defendants were accused of diverting millions of dollars from TM into bank accounts they controlled, according to the US indictment.

On one occasion, TM was asked to approve a sale of eight terabytes of capacity to a US multinational for US$54 million, when in fact only six terabytes were purchased.

The defendants then allegedly sold the excess capacity to other companies, diverting funds from the illicit sales through a sham entity, the DOJ said.

They were also accused of inflating the cost of cable purchases, redirecting nearly US$2.9 million in payments to a bank account they controlled, and allegedly claimed reimbursements for fabricated work expenses, it said.

The three also allegedly impersonated employees and interns to capture their salaries, and on one occasion used an AI-assisted imposter to deceive human resources staff, the DOJ said

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