PUTRAJAYA (March 1): Multiple operations that were stealing electricity to mine Bitcoin have been thwarted by a joint effort between the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), according to MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.

In the joint endeavour — dubbed Ops Power that the two agencies started in 2018 — a total of 7,209 cases of such theft involving RM2.3 billion worth of stolen electricity have been busted.

"They use a lot of electricity. They should be paying the right tariff charges but they have resorted to stealing electricity to make a profit... and it is a big loss to the country," Azam told a press conference at the MACC headquarters on Tuesday (March 1).

He said such illegal activities increase electricity tariffs for everyone and impact electricity to critical facilities like clinics and hospitals.

Azam said MACC was roped in on the matter as Bitcoin miners would try bribing TNB officers with cash and cryptocurrency payments — with sums of between RM3,000 and RM300,000 — to get away with such thefts.

As of Monday, 18 out of 23 suspects had been arrested, with about RM2.4 million cash in bribes paid confiscated from 998 coin-mining premises. Several bank accounts holding a total of about RM4.5 million had also been frozen, while US$25,893.46 worth of cryptocurrency had been seized.

Also seized were 1,157 Bitcoin machines worth RM2.3 million.

"Bitcoin mining is not wrong but stealing electricity to mine Bitcoin is," said Azam, adding that such electricity theft cases have been on the rise across the country.