Wednesday, January 19, 2022

SC’s findings on Azam ‘shocking’ and ‘unacceptable’, says Gomez



SC’s findings on Azam ‘shocking’ and ‘unacceptable’, says Gomez


Economist Edmund Terence Gomez said the government should have made Azam Baki go on leave while the SC probe was going on.


PETALING JAYA: Edmund Terence Gomez, a former member of the Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), has urged Putrajaya to set up an independent committee to look into MACC chief Azam Baki’s ownership of shares.

Gomez said in a statement this was all the more necessary because the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) had failed to provide detailed reasoning for its findings into the matter.

The economist said the SC’s brief statement was shocking and the conclusion of its inquiry “unacceptable”.

“The SC’s unstated reason as to why it was unable to conclusively determine the validity of the allegations against Azam raises a very disturbing question: why is it that all attempts to institute an investigation into these allegations have not resulted in an in-depth and open enquiry?

“Though these allegations were raised by the media and brought to the attention of the MACC’s advisory board, no independent investigation was undertaken.

“Given the SC’s inability to provide an informed view of the allegations against Azam, what is now required is for the government to immediately establish an independent committee to review this matter,” he said.

Gomez added that the government should have made Azam go on leave while the SC probe was going on.

Yesterday, the SC said it could not “conclusively establish” if Azam had broken the law over his ownership of shares after gathering evidence and completing its inquiry into the matter.

Azam later expressed gratitude over the statement which he said had cleared him of any wrongdoing, adding that he was informed that the SC had closed its inquiry into the matter.

No comments:

Post a Comment