A parliamentary committee has fixed March 12 for the Anti-Corruption Agency boss Zulkipli Mat Noor to appear before its members and answer a spate of serious graft allegations.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity has also called whistleblower Mohamad Ramli Manan - who is former Sabah ACA chief - to be present at the meeting.

According to the select committee member Lim Kit Siang, the two men have been asked to appear before the parliamentary body "to address the issue whether it is proper for Zulkipli to continue to helm ACA".

The select committee, which has 12 members - 10 from BN and two from opposition - is chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Bernard Dompok. It allows members of parliament to, among others, inquire into cases of corruption and abuse of power.

Several explosive allegations , ranging from corruption to a sexual offence, had been made against Zulkipli by his former senior colleague Ramli in a report last year to the then Inspector-General of Police Mohd Bakri Omar.

Allegations 'baseless'

The ACA director-general, who is a former top cop, had yesterday responded to serious allegations of being a very corrupt senior police officer who had amassed substantial property and assets through corrupt means.

Before being tapped as ACA boss, Zulkipli was the police chief in Johor and Sarawak.

Describing the allegations as "baseless", Zulkipli told New Straits Times today to "let the law take its course".

Zulkipli also said that prior to his appointment as ACA chief in 2001, he had been vetted and cleared by both the anti-corruption agency and the police.

However, Lim said that the respond from the ACA chief was not good enough.

"Zulkipli's comments are not helpful at all in throwing light on the very serious corruption allegations which had been made against him by Ramli," said Lim, who is also parliamentary opposition leader.

"Malaysia will become an international laughing-stock if we have the ACA has a director-general who has serious corruption allegations swirling over his head," said Lim.