THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today said it has the power to probe “public body officers”, following public criticism of its investigation into senior judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali,

In a statement, the MACC said it is its duty to probe into reports or complaints about matters under its jurisdiction.

It said it is empowered to investigate corruption under the MACC Act 2009 including investigations into public body officers as defined in section 3 of the act.

“Public body officer” means any person who receives any remuneration from public money, including a member, officer, employee or servant of a public body,a member of the administration, a member of parliament, a member of a state assembly and a judge of the High Court, Court of Appeal or Federal Court.

“In line with the principle of separation of powers, once all the investigation processes are completed, the investigation paper will be submitted to the Attorney-General’s Chambers to decide whether to prosecute or otherwise,” the MACC said.

MPs and the Bar Council have condemned the MACC for its probe into Nazlan over alleged unexplained wealth in his bank account.

Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim accused the MACC of attacking the judiciary while Anwar Ibrahim called for a stop to the probe saying the judicial system has internal mechanisms to monitor and investigate the integrity of judges. 

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

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

Before becoming a judge, Nazlan was general counsel and company secretary at Maybank.

Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah said the MACC probe, which stemmed from an unverified blog post, undermines judicial independence and the rule of law.

Cheah also said it creates a climate of fear and intimidation for the judiciary. 

Commenting on the investigation into Nazlan, MACC said it first received a complaint on March 15 followed by two more complaints on April 23 and 27 respectively.

“This investigation is still in its initial phase and involves public interest.”

“It should be clarified that when an investigation is conducted into any individual, it does not mean that the individual has committed an offence,” it added. – April 28, 2022.