Corporate mafia probe: AG convenes team, but what happened to March investigation?

Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar convened the first meeting of a special task force to look into "financial crimes" yesterday, pursuant to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim saying that an investigation report on the purported corporate mafia would be ready in three months.

Among others, the meeting sought to establish members of the task force, as well as the scope of the investigation.

However, the Attorney-General's Chambers statement last night has raised questions: What happened to the corporate mafia probe the cabinet ordered in March, and why is the AG task force only being assembled now?

At that time, government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil said enforcement agencies that will continue to probe “corporate manipulation” claims included the police, Inland Revenue Board, the MACC, and the Securities Commission. The same four agencies are involved in Dusuki's task force, along with Bank Negara and the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre.

Malaysiakini has contacted Dusuki for clarification on whether this is a new investigation. The portal is also seeking additional clarification from the Prime Minister's Office.

The so-called corporate mafia refers to businesspersons allegedly using questionable tactics to muscle out rivals and stage corporate takeovers. It made headlines after a Bloomberg report in February claimed that MACC officers were colluding with such businesspersons.

Among those implicated in some form or another are then MACC chief Azam Baki, Anwar's former aide Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, and businessperson Victor Chin, all of whom have denied involvement.

'Pusing-pusing' confusion all around

The government has been under pressure to probe and disclose investigation findings for the last seven months.

On Oct 20, MPs - including Hulu Terengganu MP Rosol Wahid - asked Anwar for updates on the corporate mafia probe, prompting the premier to state that he had asked Dusuki to set up a task force to do a thorough probe, and that findings would be publicly disclosed regardless of who was named in the report.

Anwar did not mention when he had asked Dusuki to set up said task force, and at the time it was assumed he was referring to the investigation that the cabinet ordered in March.

When contacted, Rosol said he was also confused by the current developments.

"Fahmi says this, Anwar says that, AGC says another thing. There's a lot of pusing-pusing (spinning), so which one is right?" he asked.

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