Government And MACC Must Take Immediate Action On Azam Baki's Alleged Ownership Of Millions Of Corporate Shares

2021-12-29 12:48:48 0 Comments 57909 view

By INS Contributors

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--We, as members of parliament, congratulate Professor Dr. Terence Gomez for taking a principled position and resigning as a member of the Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The resignation was done in protest of non-action by the Chairman of the Panel Tan Sri Borhan Dolah. Terence's resignation showed that he will not kow-tow to the MACC establishment or conspire with them to cover up abuses of power within the establishment.

When statutory panels set up under the law fail to perform their responsibility, how do we solve the problem especially if the government does not act to replace ineffective or compromised members of such oversight panels?

We are of the view that Parliament should step in. We propose that, as part of the government’s commitment to the SDG Goal 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, a multi-partisan, independent investigation team using a Select Committee be initiated immediately to investigate the allegations.

The investigation must do the following:

1. Seek full disclosure of all assets held by Tan Sri Azam Baki including those of his spouse, children and relatives;

2. Seek full disclosure of all assets held by any other former and current commissioners of MACC in order to secure the integrity of MACC;

3. Recommend for Tan Sri Azam Baki to take leave of absence to facilitate investigation by the authorities;

4. Recommend immediate actions to deal with the allegations and to clear the good name of MACC, if the allegations proved to be untrue; and

5. Recommend laws, policies, SOPs, check and balance procedures to strengthen the MACC and to raise awareness among its personnel at all levels on the necessity to quell corruption and abuse of powers, internally and externally.

At the same time, if the MACC oversight panels continue to refuse to investigate, and since the MACC establishment itself cannot investigate its own head, the police should initiate their own investigation based on all the available information in the public domain.