Anti-Corruption Agency chief Ahmad Zaki Hussein must explain why it is not investigating into allegations of corruption by Sarawak chief minister or face parliamentary censure, said an opposition leader today.

DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said Parliament should initiate stern action against Ahmad Zaki if he continued to "feign ignorance" on the allegations on Abdul Taib Mahmud in the [#1] Sayot Taib website [/#] .

"Ahmad Zaki has continued to ignore calls on the ACA to set up a high level investigation team to probe into all allegations made on this website," said Lim, who on Feb 7 had also made such a call on ACA to investigate the allegations of abuses of power committed by Abdul Taib in his 19-year tenure ([#2] ACA urged to investigate Sarawak CM's alleged abuses[/#] , Feb 7).

The allegations appeared in the website which was recently set up by a group calling themselves "Sarawak lovers". The site listed several development projects which Taib and his family were alleged to be involved in. It also attached various scanned documents, including what it claimed were letters from government departments, linking Taib and his family to the projects.

The Sarawak ACA had informed malaysiakini that it would not probe the allegations which appeared in the website as it was not monitoring the website. An official also said that the Internet connection at the agency was bad, causing difficulties in accessing the Internet ([#3] ACA not probing website's allegations against Sarawak CM''s abuses[/#] , Feb 6).

Lim said that the ACA should have acted in the same manner it did in October 1999 when it set up a team to investigate a statutory declaration made by former Bank Negara assistant governor Abdul Murad.

Abdul Murad had alleged that the jailed ex-deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim had amassed a fortune of RM3 billion while in government through 20 master accounts.

Lim also said that ACA's failure to act in this matter indicated the agency's impotence, adding that ACA had publicly stated that it would take all complaints about corruption seriously, even if they were in the form of poison-pen letters.

Salary review good

Lim, however, said Ahmad Zaki was on the right track by proposing an overall review of salary for civil servants in order to combat corruption efficiently.

Ahmad Zaki was quoted in the press today that civil servants attached to law enforcement agencies should be paid more to eradicate possible abuse of power by them.

He said that a study by the ACA revealed that one of the reasons for corruption among this category of workers was their low income.

Lim said that this was the first time the ACA has admitted that bribe-taking among law enforcement officers was rampant, adding that such measures will not eliminate corruption as long as there still existed corruption amongst politicians.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Zaki told reporters that the investigation into the alleged US$5 billion (RM19 billion) bond scam involving at least three top officials of Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad (PUNB) would be completed in two weeks.

The agency is probing in the case following information that PUNB had issued the multi-billion dollar bond without the approval of the Finance Ministry.