C4 slams Azam for naming Sabah whistleblower

Summary

• C4 slams MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki for naming the whistleblower in the Sabah corruption scandal.

• It condemns Azam's actions as "sheer negligence".

• C4 asks how the government expects whistleblowers to come forward with this treatment.

The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) today slammed MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki for naming the whistleblower in the Sabah corruption scandal.

In a statement, C4 condemned Azam's (above) actions as "sheer negligence", adding that this would undermine any protection granted to the whistleblower in the future.

"The risk that this whistleblower has taken in seeking to come forward with his story is clear, yet authorities seem to have completely disregarded his safety and security — with Azam’s disclosure only increasing the threat posed to the whistleblower for his actions," it said.

On Tuesday (March 11), former MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya identified the whistleblower only as “Albert”, withholding his full name to protect him.

Hours later, Azam disclosed his surname to the media at a press conference in Kota Kinabalu.

However, the whistleblower told Malaysiakini that he remains unfazed by this development, expressing concern only for his family due to the death threats he had received previously.

Revelations

Since November, he has revealed damning videos and WhatsApp messages of Sabah assemblypersons, whom he had bribed in exchange for mineral exploration licences.

C4 asked the government how it expects whistleblowers to come forward with confidential information, seeing how it had treated the Sabah businessperson.

"It is bad enough to have a restrictive approach to whistleblower protection by insisting that only those who are completely innocent may receive protection, but to actively undermine the security and safety of someone who comes forward with a disclosure of improper conduct is beyond unacceptable," C4 said.

It also noted it was unrealistic to expect all whistleblowers to have clean hands in coming forward.

"A trade-off must be made here in order to achieve the bigger picture of combating corruption and other criminal activity," it commented.

It further urged MACC to conduct a full and impartial investigation into the Sabah scandal now that the graftbusters have full and unedited videos.

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) executive director Zaid Malek previously handed over a USB drive and the original device used by the whistleblower to record the videos implicating Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, eight assemblypersons, and the Sabah assembly speaker.

Besides that, C4 made the following demands:

• Amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) 2010 must allow for disclosure to parties other than the relevant government agencies, such as the media and the public.

• The removal of Section 11(1)(a) - which automatically revokes protection if the whistleblower is involved in improper conduct - in favour of affording different levels of protection depending on the level of involvement.

• The introduction of a more democratic system for appointing leaders of oversight bodies.

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YOURSAY | MACC, no more excuses, time to act on Sabah