PASIR Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim has accused the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) of attacking the judiciary with its probe against Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali’s alleged unexplained wealth.

The PKR lawmaker, in a statement today, reiterated the sentiment expressed by his party chief Anwar Ibrahim, who yesterday questioned the need for MACC to look into the alleged scandal involving the senior judge. 

Hassan, who is also a member in one of the MACC’s five oversight bodies, the Committee on Corruption, said such action ran counter to the principles of separation of powers of governance. 

“MACC’s involvement is not just a violation of the principle of separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary, but it is also an attack by an executive agency on the judiciary,” he said. 

“MACC should not to be involved in revenge efforts by certain parties against Nazlan,” he added.

Nazlan was the judge who convicted former prime minister Najib Razak over the misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds. 

The blog Malaysia Today had on Wednesday posted claims that Nazlan was being investigated for an unexplained RM1 million in his account. 

Before becoming a judge, Nazlan had been general counsel and company secretary for Maybank.

Anwar yesterday lambasted MACC over its probe against Nazlan, saying the Malaysian judiciary has an internal mechanism to monitor and investigate the integrity of judges. 

“This mechanism is in place to ensure there is a proper separation of powers. As such, the involvement of the MACC in this matter breaches this principle,” the Port Dickson MP said. 

He said the judiciary’s independence and integrity were slowly recovering after years of being in a state of disrepair, and that MACC’s involvement could only be seen as political pressure and interference. 

Meanwhile Hassan trained his guns back on the anti-graft body, questioning its own integrity when it failed to investigate MACC chief Azam Baki for acquiring millions of suspicious share purchases. 

“I call on the MACC to look at itself. While there have been numerous police reports against its chief Azam Baki, regrettably till this day no investigation has been done. 

“Even the suggestion from Senate president Rais Yatim for Azam to go on garden leave was ignored,” he said. – April 25, 2022.