C4 urges politicians facing corruption cases not to run for GE15

The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) has urged politicians facing ongoing corruption cases to not contest in the upcoming 15th general election.

Economist Edmund Terence Gomez (above) said this during today’s launch of the graft watchdog’s report titled “Business in Politics: Seeking Control of Malaysia’s Political System”.

During a media briefing at the launch of the report at C4 headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Gomez said the report was intended for political leaders on all sides of the aisle to choose good candidates free from allegations of possible impropriety involving the nexus between business and politics.

He added that C4 was concerned with the recent candidate announcements by BN, Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional (PN), among them incumbent Bagan Datuk MP Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and incumbent Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng.

Gomez said as Malaysians gear up for the national polls, party leaders should be aware that since the problem of money in politics is a growing concern, they are duty-bound to nominate candidates who have an unblemished corruption record.

He pointed out that C4 was of the view that politicians who have corruption cases pending in court should not be nominated to run in this general election, with the concern about the expansion of the business-political nexus and blurring of lines between these two that could breed corruption.

“Politicians facing court cases should not run, speaking about (Umno president) Zahid’s case, Muda’s Syed Saddiq (Syed Abdul Rahman), and also (DAP chairperson) Lim. It is across the board.

“If you face corruption cases, why are you running for election? Be responsible,” Gomez said during the question-and-answer session with the media.

It was reported Zahid and Lim would be defending their Bagan Datuk and Bagan respectively.

Before the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex, the former deputy prime minister has an ongoing graft trial over millions of ringgit linked to Yayasan Akalbudi, while the former finance minister is still on trial over corruption charges involving the RM6.3 billion Penang Undersea Tunnel project.

It was reported that Muda would be announcing today whether incumbent MP Syed Saddiq - who is facing an ongoing criminal breach of trust trial involving RM1.12 million from his former party Bersatu - would be contesting in the upcoming polls set for Nov 19, with nomination day fixed for Saturday this week.

Business-politics nexus

Earlier this morning during a briefing over the 25-page report, Gomez urged voters and party leaders to take seriously the business-politics nexus issue seen through four categories.

1. Politicians who belong to a family business or are closely related to owners of such enterprises, including through marriage ties.

2. Children of politicians (who have served as prime ministers or chief ministers) active in business, but now also in politics.

3. People in business before entering politics.

4. Former private sector executives and government-linked companies (GLC) managers in politics.

Among those he cited with alleged involvement in these issues are incumbent Julau MP and Parti Bangsa Malaysia president Larry Sng for the first category, former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir for the second category, Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin for the third category, and Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz for the fourth category.

Gomez contended that this trend of mixing business and politics is serious and must be put to a stop by the electorate by placing pressure on political leaders to choose good electoral candidates free from allegations of money politics.

A copy of the report would later be uploaded to C4’s website.

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