Here are the key headlines that you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

Farewells at MACC

There were tears at Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) farewell gathering for its three top officers - chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed, deputy commissioner (operations) Mohd Shukri Abdull and MACC deputy commissioner (prevention) Mustafar Ali yesterday afternoon.

In his farewell speech, Shukri told the attorney-general and officials that power and influence won't help alter God's judgement, asking them to render fair judgement regardless of the individual investigated, based on evidence and according to the law.

Shukri also launched a broadside at those who accused his boss, Abu Kassim, of being part of conspiracy to topple Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Abu Kassim said his lawyer advised him not to issue any public response to allegations of his involvement in the high-profile plot supposedly to topple Najib.

Dzulkifli Ahmad, a senior officer with the Attorney-General's Chambers, has been appointed as the new MACC chief commissioner to replace Abu Kassim effective Aug 1.

Abu Kassim told his former underlings to be loyal to their new chief, so long as the directives are in accordance to the law.

Najib deflects DOJ

Najib insisted that the government strategic investment company 1MDB was not directly involved in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) report, positing that "in other words, 1MDB has no assets in the United States, and 1MDB is not directly named in the report".

He also explained that the Umno supreme council meeting yesterday took note of the fact that 'Malaysian Official 1' was mentioned in the DOJ's 1MDB-linked lawsuits, adding that the position has been explained to the public.

1MDB auditor search

In related news, new auditors for 1MDB will be announced soon, said Finance Ministry's Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah, though he declined to comment on other 1MDB-related questions.

PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, who is a chartered accountant registered with the Institute of Chartered Accounts England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), volunteered to join the new audit team to number crunch the allegation-riddled 1MDB for free.

More Kini bites

After brickbats following its plan to increase parking fees in the city, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Federal Territories Ministry today set new parking rates significantly lower than its proposed hike, effective today.

Whistleblower website Sarawak Report claimed that a former police officer was allegedly hired to extract a confession from ex-PetroSaudi International employee Xavier Andre Justo following his arrest in Thailand.

Although the National Security Council (NSC) Act 2016 will be coming to force next Monday, some Malaysians are still uninformed about the law that will give emergency powers to the council headed by the prime minister.

Looking ahead

PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, her deputy Azmin Ali and ex-deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin will be holding a press conference at noon today.