A senior cabinet minister allegedly siphoned RM30 million from a public listed company to pay off his personal debts 10 year ago, according to a corruption watchdog today.

Besides revealing that he is an Umno minister, Democracy and Anti-Corruption Movement (Gerak) chairperson Ezam Mohd Nor declined to reveal other details on the person's identity.

"There are several cases against this minister but one is clear, that he used a public company's funds amounting to RM30 million to settle his personal debts," he told reporters in Putrajaya.

Earlier, Ezam submitted 632-pages of evidence against the minister to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's office. The report was received by Abdullah's senior private secretary Ahmad Yaacob.

This includes two police reports lodged by the public listed company's managing director in 1998, statements from the Malaysian Companies Commission, receipts and payment invoices involving "thousands of ringgit". It also has 13 appendixes.

Ezam said it took six months for Gerak to compile all the evidence.

Asked to identify the minister, he said: "We have an agreement with the PM's office that it is for them to announce, not me. I give the prime minister the privilege to announce (the name)."

Immediate action

Ezam expressed hope that immediate action can be initiated against the minister.

"This is a case of criminal breach of trust (CBT). Any other individual or Malaysian citizen will be arrested if there is a clear case of CBT, so the minister has to be arrested soon," he said, adding that the incident happened before he was appointed minister.

According to Ezam, Abdullah wanted to meet him personally to receive the evidence but the prime minister is attending a day-long programme in Perak today.

"They (PM's office) proposed next week but I can't hold the documents any further because it involves classified documents. It is only proper that the documents be at the PM's office," he explained.

Ezam also said he would not forward the evidence to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA).

"You know I have had problems with the ACA chief, so I go to the chief of the ACA chief, which is the prime minister," he quipped, referring to his previous revelation concerning former ACA chief Zukipli Mat Noor.

In another development, Ezam, who recently announced his decision to quit PKR, refused to respond to PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin who accused him of being a "traitor."

Shamsul had reportedly said that Ezam was part of an agenda to undermine PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

"I am no longer in PKR, I don't want to comment on PKR. Anyone can say whatever they want. I am here as Gerak chairperson," said the former PKR Youth chief.

In quitting the party, Ezam had cited his differences with Anwar and party vice-president Azmin Ali.