PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob should stop his Government’s dishonest attempt to cover up for Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Tan Sri Azam Baki, said the DAP.
“We wish to remind Ismail Sabri that the Opposition will not accept decisions which are made wrongly and contrary to the law.
“When Azam expressed gratitude that Securities Commission (SC) had cleared him of any wrongdoing for allowing his shares trading account to be used by his brother to acquire millions of shares in listed companies, this is clearly wrong because like any functional capital markets in the world, Malaysia had also outlawed proxy share trading,” its secretary general Lim Guan Eng said, in a statement.
On Tuesday, the SC issued a statement saying it was not able to establish whether there was a breach of regulation in the controversial acquisition of public shares related to Azam, who had openly admitted that his brother Nasir Baki had used his Central Depository System (CDS) account to purchase securities in two public-listed companies in 2015-2016 (Gets Global Bhd and Excel Force MSC Bhd).
But in a bizarre twist yesterday, SC issued another statement saying Azam did not breach of Section 25(4) of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act 1991 (SICDA), which prompted outcry from many Opposition politicians.
However, Bernama reported Ismail Sabri today urging everyone to accept SC’s decision and called on concerned parties to seek clarification from the latter if they needed further information.
“Hydra of lies”
Unimpressed with the premier’s statement, Lim said that the Oppositions refusal to accept SC’s earlier statement was proven right when the agency itself confirmed that Azam is indeed the named account holder and had sole control of the said trading account by giving instructions to buy, sell and transfer securities, with the SC concluding that there was no proxy trading of Azam’s shares account by his younger brother as claimed by Azam himself.
“Azam lied when he tried to justify his holdings of millions of ringgit worth of shares and other share transactions by claiming that his account was used as a proxy by his brother.
“Now, the scandal has now turned into a hydra of lies when one lie is exposed, more is required to cover it up,” the former finance minister claimed.
Lim then urged Ismail Sabri to focus on the points mentioned and get to the bottom of the matter, instead of manipulating reality to hide Azam’s alleged transgressions.
“If the premier accepts the decision of SC that Azam lied when he claimed that his shares account was used by Nasir as a proxy, then he should immediately take action by asking Azam to go on leave pending an independent investigation,” he concluded. – Jan 20, 2022.
