As its officers are being investigated by the police, staff at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Putrajaya held special prayers (solat hajat) today.

Among others, they asked Allah to grant them strength to perform their tasks.

"We pray to You, Allah, to grant us strength to perform our duty as best possible.

"Keep us away from wrongdoing, give strength to these graft-busters so they could save themselves, and their families, organisations, communities, and especially our beloved country from being violated by actions of those who practise graft," said MACC deputy chief commissioner Zakaria Jaffar while leading the prayer session.

 

It was held at their headquarters after Zohor prayers, and was joined by some 100 staff.

Speaking to reporters later, Zakaria said it is normal for the MACC to hold such prayers, but today’s meet was to rectify the weaknesses of its officers.

“Actually, we have been doing this continuously at the individual level, but this afternoon we are meeting with our officers to see and correct our (weaknesses) so that Allah will always bless us,” he said.

Keep people from entering hell

Zakaria added that the task of tackling graft is a heavy responsibility, and so he had asked for his officers to be given strength to execute their duty.

“Graft comes from activities that are haram (forbidden), and the Prophet had said that those who give or receive bribes will be sent to hell. So, to keep people from entering hell is a huge and heavy task.

“So we sought help from Allah the Almighty and All-knowing to show the way and help us perform the noble task as best possible,” he said.

The police have questioned four MACC officers so far as part of a probe on a purportedly leaked draft charge sheet from the commission’s 1MDB investigation.

According to one of those questioned, Roslan Che Amat of the MACC’s Special Operations Department, they are being investigated under Section 124B of the Penal Code, which deals with activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

Others who have been questioned are MACC special operations director Bahri Mohamad Zin, forensics director IG Chandran, and deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairi, who was seconded to MACC.

The police have yet to specify why they had quizzed the four officers, but it is understood that they are involved in MACC’s investigation on the former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.

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