PRIME Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob cannot continue to keep mum on the allegations against Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki, Gobind Singh Deo said today. 

The Puchong MP said Ismail’s silence may reflect his weakness in handling this matter. 

“The prime minister cannot keep quiet on such an important issue. MACC comes under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department and he must be held responsible for the agency.

“Keeping quiet shows his (Ismail) weakness in handling this issue,” he said in a statement.

His call for the prime minister to speak up comes on the heels of former MACC panel member Edmund Terence Gomez urging him to do the same.

Gomez had last week resigned as a member of one of five MACC oversight panels – the Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel. 

His resignation is a protest against MACC 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 corporate shares in a company in 2015 and 2016, and not declared them. 

Azam allegedly owned 1.93 million shares in Gets Global Bhd as at April 30, 2015, and 1.02 million shares as at March 31, 2016. His younger brother allegedly owned 3.72 million shares in the same company. 

Azam also allegedly owned 2.15 million shares in public-listed Excel Force MSC Bhd.

Sungai Buloh MP R. Sivarasa made the claims against Azam and called for an investigation into them on December 14.

Referring to the MACC Act 2009, Gobind said the purpose of the act is to instil integrity and accountability on civil servants and the private sector.

Therefore, Ismail must act soon and show that integrity and accountability is an important aspect for the MACC too, he said. 

Besides Gomez, Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong and Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin, who sit on the Special Select Committee on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department, have urged the parliamentary panel to meet over allegations of conflict of interest against Azam.

Former MACC Advisory Board chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim also called on the government to set up a royal commission of inquiry to look into allegations of impropriety in the agency.

Meanwhile six PKR lawmakers said a cross-partisan parliamentary select committee must be established to investigate claims that the chief commissioner owned shares in a company in 2015 and 2016. 

They are Fahmi Fadzil (Lembah Pantai), Hasan Karim (Pasir Gudang), Maria Chin Abdullah (Petaling Jaya), R. Sivarasa (Sungai Buloh), Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru) and Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (Ledang). – January 3, 2022.