Ex-MACC panel member laments board’s attitude in Azam Baki controversy
Edmund Terence Gomez quit MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel last December over the Azam Baki share ownership issue.
PETALING JAYA: A former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission panel member who quit following apparent inaction over a report implicating the top anti-graft buster is bemoaning the manner in which the scandal has been dealt with.
Edmund Terence Gomez has also questioned the process of appointing his successor.
Gomez resigned from the Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel (CCPP) in December after it failed to discuss reports of MACC chief Azam Baki’s alleged extensive ownership of corporate stock.
MACC’s advisory board (ACAB) apparently cleared Azam, with its chairman, Abu Zahar Ujang, saying he had adequately explained his ownership of more than two million shares.
According to Abu Zahar, the board was satisfied with the explanation and had determined that Azam had no pecuniary interest and there was no conflict of interest in the acquisition of the shares.
Subsequently, however, the six other members of ACAB issued a joint press statement disputing what Abu Zahar had said. They said the statement was not the board’s position but his personal view.
Gomez told FMT the board was, six months on, working “as if nothing had happened” in spite of this problem between Abu Zahar and the rest of its members.
“Since there was a clear disagreement between Abu Zahar and the rest of the members, the six of them should have resigned,” he said.
He said the government should have stepped in to review the advisory board’s handling of the situation. That it did not do so suggested a dereliction of duty by the prime minister, he said.
“What the prime minister and his Cabinet should have done is institute an independent investigation as soon as they became aware of the controversy in December,” he said.
The ACAB, he said, was established as a check and balance mechanism and it was “clearly not the case” in this matter.
Gomez also said he had been left “deeply upset” by how the controversy had panned out.
“We thought a change was imminent the way protests were mounting, including a public demonstration,” he said. “There was much pressure on the prime minister to act decisively by instituting an independent investigation and reforming MACC.”
He said it appeared that the Johor election shifted everyone’s attention from the controversy.
Referring to the selection process of his successor, Gomez said he had come to learn that “someone from MACC” had contacted an activist to offer him the post.
He said the appointment of panel members should be done by an independent body, adding that it was nonsensical for MACC to have a say on who should sit on the panel.
Since it was the prime minister who appointed the members of the panel, it was his office that should be responsible for handling the selection process, he said.
“This clearly needs to be reviewed. The selection process is problematic. Will the members really serve as a check and balance on the MACC? Are they truly independent?” he said.
PETALING JAYA: A former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission panel member who quit following apparent inaction over a report implicating the top anti-graft buster is bemoaning the manner in which the scandal has been dealt with.
Edmund Terence Gomez has also questioned the process of appointing his successor.
Gomez resigned from the Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel (CCPP) in December after it failed to discuss reports of MACC chief Azam Baki’s alleged extensive ownership of corporate stock.
MACC’s advisory board (ACAB) apparently cleared Azam, with its chairman, Abu Zahar Ujang, saying he had adequately explained his ownership of more than two million shares.
According to Abu Zahar, the board was satisfied with the explanation and had determined that Azam had no pecuniary interest and there was no conflict of interest in the acquisition of the shares.
Subsequently, however, the six other members of ACAB issued a joint press statement disputing what Abu Zahar had said. They said the statement was not the board’s position but his personal view.
Gomez told FMT the board was, six months on, working “as if nothing had happened” in spite of this problem between Abu Zahar and the rest of its members.
“Since there was a clear disagreement between Abu Zahar and the rest of the members, the six of them should have resigned,” he said.
He said the government should have stepped in to review the advisory board’s handling of the situation. That it did not do so suggested a dereliction of duty by the prime minister, he said.
“What the prime minister and his Cabinet should have done is institute an independent investigation as soon as they became aware of the controversy in December,” he said.
The ACAB, he said, was established as a check and balance mechanism and it was “clearly not the case” in this matter.
Gomez also said he had been left “deeply upset” by how the controversy had panned out.
“We thought a change was imminent the way protests were mounting, including a public demonstration,” he said. “There was much pressure on the prime minister to act decisively by instituting an independent investigation and reforming MACC.”
He said it appeared that the Johor election shifted everyone’s attention from the controversy.
Referring to the selection process of his successor, Gomez said he had come to learn that “someone from MACC” had contacted an activist to offer him the post.
He said the appointment of panel members should be done by an independent body, adding that it was nonsensical for MACC to have a say on who should sit on the panel.
Since it was the prime minister who appointed the members of the panel, it was his office that should be responsible for handling the selection process, he said.
“This clearly needs to be reviewed. The selection process is problematic. Will the members really serve as a check and balance on the MACC? Are they truly independent?” he said.
"Since there was a clear disagreement between Abu Zahar and the rest of the members, the six of them should have resigned,” he said."
ReplyDeleteThat's presuming everyone on the panel has a sense of outrage over the issue. That also assumes the panel has an embedded sense of integrity.
Unfortunately, not everyone shares Gomez's values, including our kerajaan allah.
Anyway, it is patently clear the MACC is realy a joke and a tool of the elite. It is a "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" arrangement.
Azam Baki is a hero, especially after Latheefa Koya.
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