Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed has apologised over an insensitive remark made by its lawyer.

NONE In a statement yesterday, the MACC said the remark was not intended to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Last Thursday, MACC lawyer Abdul Razak Musa, when locking horns with the wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh in court, said: "I can sit down but Karpal cannot stand up."

 

The comment, which riled Karpal and his son Gobind Singh Deo, was uttered during a heated exchange between the lawyers during an application to cite a MACC officer for contempt  regarding the Teoh Beng Hock inquest

After a threat to cite him for contempt, Abdul Razak retracted his statement and apologised.

Sorry for delay

Meanwhile, MACC in its statement today also apologised to a group of disabled activists, who staged a protest over the incident outside the MACC office in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, for making them wait close to an hour to submit a memorandum.

The group from the Malaysians Against Discrimination of the Disabled (MADD) and Independent Learning and Training Centre (ILTC) had asked Abu Kassim to be present to receive the memorandum.

However, the MACC explained that the commission only received the fax request from the group at 10am on Monday informing them of the protest, which was held over an hour later.

The commission said Abu Kassim was unable to go as he was attending a meeting in Putrajaya, but another officer had been instructed to accept the memorandum on his behalf.

The memorandum was subsequently submitted to Kuala Lumpur MACC director Azni Hamzah.

"The MACC apologises for any inconvenience faced by MADD and ILTC and we will ensure that this incident will not be repeated," said the anti-graft commission.

Commenting on the issue, Karpal said he accepted the apology and hoped that such an incident would not recur.

"This has happened before in parliament and also now in courts. It seems that it has gone airborne. I hope this would be the end of the matter," he added.

Karpal also said he would not seek to bar Abdul Razak from the Teoh inquest proceedings.