MALAYSIAN Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Azam Baki should volunteer to appear before the parliamentary select committee for agencies in the Prime Minister’s Department or resign, said DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said Azam will be setting a good example to all civil servants by making his personal finances public, following accusations of undeclared investments.

However, Lim noted the chief commissioner and Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s continued silence on the issue, which he described as “most troubling”.

“Is the prime minister going to raise the issue at the next cabinet meeting?

“Will there be a cabinet meeting this Wednesday? If not, why not? The prime minister recalled all ministers holidaying overseas to return because of the floods,” he said in a statement today.

Azam’s position has come under the spotlight after MACC consultation and corruption prevention panel member Edmund Terence Gomez resigned in protest of what he views as anti-corruption advisory board chairman Abu Zahar Ujang, and consultation and corruption prevention panel chairman Borhan Dolah’s lack of action on allegations that Azam had owned shares in a company in 2015 and 2016, and not declared them.

Azam is said to have owned 1.93 million shares in Gets Global Bhd as of April 30, 2015, reducing this to 1.02 million shares by March 31, 2016.

His younger brother is also said to have owned 3.72 million shares in the same company.

Furthermore, Azam is said to have owned 2.15 million shares in public-listed Excel Force MSC Bhd.

Yesterday, Gomez said the prime minister should make a public statement immediately, because his silence will erode the people’s faith in agency.

He said Ismail should also form an independent committee to look into the allegations against the chief commissioner.

“The prime minister must respond to this issue. Why is he keeping silent? Did the media approach him for an explanation? If we want this issue to have an impact, we need to reform institutions and the system of governance,” he told The Malaysian Insight in an exclusive interview. – January 3, 2022.