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KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 (AFP) - Malaysian police have detained four top officials over the alleged misuse of 36.5 million ringgit (9.6 million dollars) meant for the poor, reports said Friday.

The officials were taken to court in handcuffs Thursday and remanded in police custody for between three and five days for further investigations.

Their arrests on Wednesday followed a report lodged by rural development ministry officials with the police and the government's Anti-Coruption Agency.

The 36.5 million ringgit was invested in development projects in the north eastern states of Kelantan and Terengganu which either suffered losses or were abandoned.

Two of the men are believed to hold key posts in a private company that was involved in joint ventures with the development ministry, The Star newspaper said.

The four were identified as Abdul Aziz Mohammed, 57, former rural development ministry secretary-general; deputy secretary-general Mohamad Ariff Abu Bakar, 51; Alwi Alwi Said, 53, Central Terengganu Development Authority general-manager and Nik Kamaruddin Nik Abdul Kadir, 52, former Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority director-general.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters: "The remands are to enable the police to carry out further investigations. This does not mean, at this time, they are guilty.

"At this time, they are only needed to assist in investigations. What is going to happen to them will depend on the results of the investigations.

"This is a very high profile issue ... steps will be taken to ensure that the guilty are punished."

P. Ramasamy, a political scientist at the National University of Malaysia, said the arrests were a good sign in a country where corruption "is a serious problem".

"But we have to address the root cause of corruption. It is caused by abuse of power. Unless the leadership shows some transparency, I don't think there will be fundamental changes in corruption in the country," he told AFP. 

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