No 'orange revenge' when MACC under Latheefa's watch

When she headed the MACC for nine months, legal eagle Latheefa Koya made certain that the commission was not turned into a tool for revenge and this trickled down to the outfit for those arrested.

However, she said this is no longer practised under the current administration.

“I did not allow any person who was charged or remanded to be brought to court in the orange lock-up outfit.

“I did not care if the person was prominent or not, do not humiliate them before they are investigated, charged or convicted, because they have their dignity and family to protect.

“The orange outfit was worn in the lock-up, but now it is worn by detainees taken to court and humiliated,” Latheefa told Mingguan Malaysia.

The Pakatan Harapan government under Dr Mahathir Mohamad named Latheefa as the MACC chief commissioner on June 4, 2019, to replace Mohd Shukri Abdull.

The move courted controversy as it circumvented the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Public Appointments.

On March 6, 2020, the former PKR member confirmed that she resigned from the post after the Harapan government collapsed.

In January of that year, MACC released audio clips of former premier Najib Abdul Razak in relation to the 1MDB scandal.

After she stepped down, Azam Baki, who was then the deputy head of operations, was promoted to succeed Latheefa.

MACC ‘under pressure’

In the interview with Mingguan Malaysia, Latheefa, who is also part of Lawyers for Liberty (LFL), said she also insisted on legal representation for all suspects who were being interrogated.

“But now a lawyer is prevented from accompanying their client under investigation when the lawyer is not disturbing the process,” she said.

Latheefa, however, stopped short of labelling MACC as a “political tool” of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, an allegation that his critics have aired.

“I will not say that (political tool). Just look at the people’s perception (of MACC) not being free and under pressure,” she said, declining to comment on Azam’s performance.

“I personally was not pressured by any party, but there were many challenges, such as ensuring that MACC remains free,” she added.

Questions surrounding MACC’s independence were raised in a Bloomberg article dated Sept 26 that cited anonymous sources claiming that Anwar had directed the agency to investigate former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, Mahathir and his sons.

The article also quoted unnamed sources alleging that in March, Azam instructed his officers to avoid investigating Anwar’s former political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak’s stock purchases, purportedly at the behest of the prime minister.

The Prime Minister’s Office and MACC have denied the claims.

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