DEWAN Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun today said he had no power to instruct Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki to attend Parliament.

Azam was to be questioned by the Special Select Committee (PSC) on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department on his alleged share ownership.

Azhar said he does not get involved in any committee in Parliament.

“It is not in my power to call anyone or stop anyone from being called. There is no power (given) to me to call anyone to attend the PSC (meeting),” he said.

“Only the PSC has the right to call anyone. We have to follow what is stated in the standing order.”

Azhar was responding to Khoo Poay Tiong (Kota Melaka-PH) who asked why Azam does not want to come to Parliament.

“He (Azam) is giving the excuse that we only gave him an invitation letter and not a subpoena,” said Khoo.

“The PSC has the right to call Azam. He came previously to Parliament, so why because of this issue of shares he doesn’t want to come?”

Azhar said he does not have the power to instruct any of the PSC chairmen on what they should or should not do.

“I know Azam had written a letter to the PSC to discuss some legal issues. I don’t want to go into that,” he said.

“He wants to raise certain issues, so the chairman has left vacant the date (for Azam to come to Parliament).

“The issue that Azam doesn’t want to come to Parliament was not raised.”

On February 13, Azam said he did not attend the PSC meeting to discuss his case as he received only an “invitation” and not a subpoena.

“If it was a subpoena, I would have attended because as an enforcement officer, I know the law and must respect it,” he had told The Star.

“It is not that I refused to attend but I merely pointed out to the Parliament secretary that under procedure 83(4) of the Dewan Rakyat standing order, the deliberations of a select committee shall be confined to matters referred to it by the House.

“If there is a referral from the House, I would have certainly attended the meeting. I believe they understood my point and that was why the meeting was postponed.”

Last month, the Securities Commission said it was “not able to conclusively establish” whether Azam had breached the law in allowing his trading account to be used by his brother for shares purchased in 2015 and 2016.

The shares Azam was said to have owned were 2.15 million in Excel Force MSC Bhd in 2015 as well as the 1.93 million shares in Gets Global Bhd the same year and 1.02 million shares the following year. At the time, Azam was MACC’s director of investigations.

At a press conference on January 5, Azam said the shares were bought by his brother, Nasir, using his (Azam’s) trading account and were later transferred to the brother, leaving him with no pecuniary interest.

He also said he informed his superiors at the time about the purchases and they raised no concerns. – March 1, 2022.