Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud should go on leave until such a time that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has cleared him of all allegations of “grand corruption”.

NONE “Let Taib announce at the forthcoming state assembly in 10 days time that he is going on leave as Sarawak chief minister until he is cleared.

“Otherwise it would be a shame to Sarawak and Malaysia to have a state CM actively under MACC investigations following international pressures,” said DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang ( right ) in a speech today.

Speaking while opening the DAP State Assembly Reps’ Workshop in Sibu this morning, he said that this is because the MACC has confirmed it is investigating Taib over allegations of timber corruption.

Its chief commissioner, Abu Kassim Mohamed announced two days ago that  the commission was in the process of gathering more information regarding the matter, though he refused to divulge details.

azlan Lim, however, questioned the wording and commitment of the MACC investigations, saying that although Abu Kassim’s statement is a great improvement on his previous silence, it is unclear whether MACC has opened files  to investigate Taib.

“‘Is gathering more information’ tantamount to  a corruption investigation under the MACC Act 2009 or is it an activity which can be outsourced to any research organisation?” Lim asked sarcastically.

The Ipoh Timor parliamentarian also questioned the timing of the MACC probe against Taib, asking if it is only because of international pressure emanating from Switzerland’s regulatory body Finma’s (the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority) investigation into Taib’s assets.