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C4: Will new MACC chief be up to task?
Published:  Jul 5, 2016 3:06 PM
Updated: 7:49 AM

An anti-graft body has questioned whether the new chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will be capable enough to helm the position.

"What assurance will Malaysians have that the new chief commissioner will act without fear or favour?

"Does he have the necessary skills and capacity required for the top job of an anti-corruption chief? More importantly, will he show integrity where it matters most?

"Will the 1MDB scandal be investigated further or buried? Will the corrupt be apprehended or continue to roam free?" Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) founding director Cynthia Gabriel said in a press statement today.

C4 is also alarmed by speculation of a "parachute" replacement, with a purported candidate from the Attorney-General's Chambers, she said.

This could raise future possibilities for abuse, if the chief of both the federal investigative and prosecution branch were to come from the same institution, she said.

She urged for the new chief to be someone from within the MACC, is familiar with and has served in various departments in the commission and has demonstrated strength in the face of adversity.

The current MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed will be stepping down from MACC effective Aug 1, but had denied that he was pressured to step down.

Cynthia (photo) said that C4 was far from convinced that Abu Kassim's retirement is voluntary.

"The truth is that the position of the chief commissioner is devoid of any security of tenure.

"It is plain to see that as a civil servant, his job was clearly on the line, given that he was hard-pressed to investigate his own boss," she said.

She said his retirement also ran contrary to his reassurance earlier this year that he would helm the MACC as long as he is healthy, that he would not to bow to external pressure, and aim to seek the truth about 1MDB, no matter what it took.

"The curtains drew to a close on an MACC falsely premised on being independent.

"The pretence finally broke, as the cracks became apparent and the MACC's determination to see through the 1MDB scandal collapsed like a deck of cards," Cynthia said.

She noted that C4 and other good governance groups have worked hard to formulate important recommendations for a more independent MACC.

Their findings had been presented to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Paul Low and to the MACC, but until now the reforms proposed had yet to be tabled in Parliament, Cynthia said.

"The earlier promise of tabling this bill in Parliament last year itself now appears like a distant, indeed pipe, dream," she added.

MACC deputy chief commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull is also set to retire this month.

He had previously admitted there were attempts to interfere in MACC's investigations and lamented that politicians under investigation were glorified while the MACC was painted as running dogs.

The opposition has claimed the departure of two key figures from MACC is related to its investigation into 1MDB and the multi-billion ringgit in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's personal bank accounts.

The government denied this, while attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared Najib of wrongdoing.

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