Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Corruption investigation - elegant circular route to nowhere

Remember Cyclops in Monkey House?

Yes, that untouchable bloke in the so-called Parliament who admitted openly that he asked the Malacca Customs and Excise Department to ‘close one eye’ to his consignment of
seized illegal sawn timber, and release it.

What happened to the parliamentary inquiry, in which so-called process saw JB MP Shahrir Samad lose his position as chairman of the back benchers club?

It’s the typical AAB government’s elegant non-action, with the tactic of remaining silent until people forget about it – after all, aren’t we Malaysian notorious about our mudah lupa attitude?

Same story or tactic applies to the current AAAB government’s cover up of the corruption allegations against former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Zulkipli Mat Noor.

Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption (Gerak) chairperson Ezam Mohd Nor accused the government of deliberately letting the case ‘fade away’. Even the lapse of Zulkipli's contract, by not extending it after it expired on a few days ago, has been part of that tactic.

Ezam asked: “We have enough reasons to question the sincerity and seriousness of the government in this issue. Firstly, why does it take so long to investigate? We are concerned that the authorities are trying to buy time and let the issue fade away.”

He claimed that this has not been the first time the government has covered up corruption allegations, citing the allegation against former Pahang Menteri Besar Khalil Yaacob in the awarding of timber concessions.

In 2001, former Beserah state assemblyperson Fauzi Abdul Rahman had lodged a police report over this. UMNO launched an
internal inquiry (ha ha ha – ‘internal’ inquiry) into Khalil, who was then party secretary-general and information minister. Khalil has since been pushed upstairs to become governor of Malacca.

Ezam said: “There was a police report against Khalil, but no investigation, Khalil was just released from his government post as minister. Nothing more than that. We are afraid the same thing might happen (with Zulkipli’s case).”

Ezam also referred to another corruption scandal involving Deputy Internal Security Minister Mohd Johari Bahrum who was alleged to have accepted RM5.5 million in bribes to free certain criminal suspects held under the Emergency Ordinance.

Guess who’s investigating the case?

Yes, the ACA, whose head is being investigated by the police, whose misdemeanours would of course (theoretically) be investigated by the ACA whose misdemeanours would be investigated by …….. you get the idea of the elegant circular route to nowhere?

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