DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to act on the sudden resignation of academic Edmund Terence Gomez from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) advisory panel.
“It would appear that Malaysia’s international infamy this year has not ended, although we are left with three days before we enter 2022.
“What others things do we have in store in the next three days?” he queried, in a statement.
Yesterday, the outspoken academic quit in protest over the panel’s inaction against MACC chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki’s alleged ownership of up to two million shares in a public listed company.
According to Malaysiakini, Gomez had first raised his concerns on Nov 12 to the MACC panel chief Datuk Seri Borhan Dolah, urging the latter to set up a meeting to discuss the “critical issue of national interest”.
Although Borhan had agreed to Gomez’s call, the meeting was never called, prompting the latter to write two more times to the former. In the subsequent letters, Gomez had apparently provided more details on Azam’s family’s links to several business enterprises.
As he received lukewarm response from Borhan, Gomez wrote another letter on Dec 14 stating he would be forced to quit if the matter was left unaddressed.
Touching on the matter, Lim said that PKR MP R Sivarasa himself had filed an urgent motion at the Parliament some time back on Azam’s alleged business ties.
In his motion, Lim added, Sivarasa had claimed that between 2015 and 2016, Azam owned 930,000 shares in Gets Global Bhd as at April 30, 2015 and a further 1,029,000 shares as at March 31, 2016.
Misconduct by public servant?
All this was while Azam was serving as MACC’s investigation director.
“Sivarasa also alleged that as of March 21, 2016, Azam also owned 2,156,000 warrants in Excel Force MSC Bhd, while his younger brother owned 3,728,000 shares in Gets Global.
“But bear in mind that public servants are barred from owning more than RM100,000 value of shares in any company. They are also required to declare all their assets to their heads of departments under the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993,” he stated.
With that said, the Iskandar Puteri lawmaker urged the Government to establish the Parliamentary Select Committee on Corruption and Wastage of Public Funds.
“The committee should conduct an investigation on Azam and other issues involving graft and misuse of public funds,” Lim remarked. – Dec 28, 2021
Photo credit: Malay Mail
