Azam Baki controversy: Investigate him now, Puad tells the Gov’t

Azam Baki controversy: Investigate him now, Puad tells the Gov’t



WITH the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki under pressure on claims of conflict of interest, a UMNO leader joined the chorus and urged the Government to act.

“It is unbecoming for the authorities to keep mum on the matter, including the prime minister.

“The people want concrete solutions but I guess we’re back to the old ways. The issue is hot for now but once it becomes cold, they will just close the book and forget about it,” said its supreme council member Datuk Puad Zarkashi in a Facebook post.

Last week, academician Edmund Terence Gomez quit his post as the MACC panel member after both the panel chief Datuk Seri Borhan Dollah and the chairman of its advisory board chairman Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang did not take action on allegations that Azam and his family held substantial amount of shares in private companies, in breach of the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993.

However, Borhan and Abu Zahar claimed that Gomez did not mention the allegations in his correspondence to them but Gomez struck back by forwarding the emails and its attachments to the media as proof.

Park the MACC under the Parliament

Since then, many quarters including the MCA and MACC’s former advisory panel chief Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim had called for Azam to be investigated, with the latter even calling for a royal commission of inquiry to be established.

On that note, Puad backed calls for the MACC to be placed under Parliamentary purview, instead of being parked under the Prime Minister’s Department.

He added that the Parliament should have the power to appoint its chief commissioner, not the prime minister.

“This will ensure a check and balance mechanism is in place to investigate errant MACC officers if there are any. This is an institutional reform we should champion,” the former deputy minister remarked. – Jan 3, 2022