Pejuang calls for MACC chief to be put on garden leave
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki must be put on garden leave in view of the allegation that he has close to two million shares in a public listed company.
In a statement today, Pejuang information chief Ulya Aqamah Husamudin said this is the only way to restore the public confidence in the graft buster.
"The calls for Azam to be investigated for any wrongdoings must be given utmost priority. He should be put on garden leave pending the investigation," said Ulya (above)...
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki must be put on garden leave in view of the allegation that he has close to two million shares in a public listed company.
In a statement today, Pejuang information chief Ulya Aqamah Husamudin said this is the only way to restore the public confidence in the graft buster.
"The calls for Azam to be investigated for any wrongdoings must be given utmost priority. He should be put on garden leave pending the investigation," said Ulya (above).
"We demand that a meeting be held and the investigation against Azam Baki must be carried out immediately.
"This is the only way to instil confidence back to the people, who will know that proper checks and balances exist in the system," he said.
The resignation of the former member of MACC's Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel, Edmund Terrence Gomez, is indeed shocking and worrying, Ulya said.
The lack of urgency in the panel to convene a special meeting on allegations surrounding Azam created speculation and doubts in the trustworthiness of MACC, he said.
"The MACC is supposed to eradicate corruption and protect whistleblowers who put their heads out to help curb these disgusting offences. This includes the offences that happen internally within the commission," he said.
Yesterday, Gomez tendered his resignation from the panel, claiming that chairperson Borhan Dollah did not respond to his requests for a panel to be set up to convene a meeting on the allegations against Azam.
This was despite Borhan allegedly having initially agreed to convene the panel.
Malaysiakini has contacted Azam for comments.
Previously, Sungai Buloh MP R Sivarasa had filed an urgent motion seeking the Dewan Rakyat to discuss Azam's alleged ownership of close to two million shares in a publicly listed company.
Sivarasa had alleged that between 2015 and 2016, when Azam was the MACC's investigation director, he had become the owner of 930,000 shares in Gets Global Bhd as at April 30, 2015, and a further 1,029,000 shares as at March 31, 2016.
The MP also claimed that, as of March 21, 2016, Azam also owned 2,156,000 warrants in public listed Excel Force MSC Bhd, while his younger brother owned 3,728,000 shares in Gets Global.
Sivarasa had noted that public servants are barred from owning more than RM100,000 worth of shares in any company.
TI-M appalled by revelations
Meanwhile, Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) said it is appalled by the recent revelations made by Gomez, and the incident must be investigated urgently.
"It is clear that the MACC isn’t short on independent panels and processes to investigate its officers for alleged offences and so the question remains why is there no announcement of any action being taken to date to investigate the allegations.
"Issues such as these, if left unchecked and swept under the rug will affect the perceptions the rest of the world have on Malaysia and the MACC, thus potentially bringing down indices such as the Corruption Perceptions Index and Global Corruption Barometer.
"We call upon the MACC and the cabinet to explain the delays in responding to these serious allegations and to state what the next course of action will be, with regard to the same," TI-M added.
