Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed is to be replaced soon and his replacement is believed to be a senior officer from the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Sources familiar with the matter suggest that Abu Kassim could have been allegedly pressured by the Prime Minister's Office to vacate his post. He will step down on Aug 1.

However, in a statement issued later, MACC denied there was any pressure on Abu Kassim.

Deputy chief commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull is also said to be retiring next month, while three key MACC panels have been left in limbo.

The Operations Review Panel (ORP) and the Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel (CCPP) have been left vacant since Feb 24, while the Special Committee on the Prevention of Corruption became vacant last month.

The ORP is said to be critical of attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali's decision to clear Prime Minister Najib Razak and it wanted further investigations, including the MACC being granted Mutual Legal Assistance powers to conduct overseas investigations.

The CCPP opposed the controversial move to transfer two senior officers out of MACC last July - Special Investigations division head Bahri Mohd Zin and corporate communications unit head Rohaizad Yaakob.

Speculation about Abu Kassim quitting MACC began circulating earlier this year. His , contract is supposed to last until 2018.

Anti-corruption watchdog Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel recently called for the MACC chief commissioner to be given security of tenure to ensure the person could carry out his or her task without fear or favour.

Cynthia also criticised the government for not picking new appointees for the MACC panels, which help oversee the commission’s work. She lamented that the panels were never left vacant before this.

The man from AG’s Chambers

Although Apandi had earlier this year denied that the AG Chambers’ senior officer, Dzulkefli Ahmad, would be picked to replace Abu Kassim, there are signs his name is among the possible candidates.

Sources indicated that Dzulkefli is heavily favoured and is said to be recommended to the chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa by those close to the prime minister.

Dzulkefli currently heads the National Revenue Recovery Enforcement team, and sources indicate that he had played a role in helping to clear Najib on the 1MDB scandal.

He was also a member of the secretariat in the multi-departmental and agency's investigations into 1MDB and SRC International, replacing Jessica Gurmeet Kaur, who was initially appointed by then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail and was suddenly terminated.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing in both the 1MDB and SRC scandals.

According to sources, the shake-up in MACC will severely undermine the anti-graft commission.

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Abu Kassim's term discontinued at his own request, says gov't