The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) turnabout, announcing that it is investigating allegations surrounding the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) despite previously saying it would not probe the matter, signifies two things:
• The political heat of the RM300 million cattlegate/cow-condo scandal, involving the Wanita Umno leader and Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is becoming unbearable for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak; that her days are numbered and it will be a surprise if she could politically survive into the new year although it is only nine days away;
• A big “black eye” to end the third year of operation of the MACC, plunging public confidence in the independence, integrity and professionalism of the MACC to an unplumbed low, after the earlier series of “black eyes” like the MACC deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed; MACC used as political pawns to persecute Pakatan Rakyat leaders/activists like Teoh Beng Hock, Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and former Perak Pakatan Rakyat Speaker V Sivakumar; abysmal failure to check “grand corruption” highlighted by Malaysia’s worst Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index 2011 ranking of No. 60 and score of 4.3 in the past 17 years.
The MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed should resign for the disgraceful cop-out of MACC of no investigation into the RM300 million cattlegate/cow-condo scandal, and the about-face six weeks later, ostensibly after getting the “green light” from the political masters who found the escalating “heat” from the scandal increasingly unbearable and intolerable, especially with the coming general elections around the corner.
The Malaysian public have no confidence that the MACC, with its history and record, would get to the bottom of the RM300 million cattlegate/cow-condo scandal.
The MACC said in a statement today that a special team headed by MACC investigations director Datuk Haji Mustafar Ali has been formed to investigate claims of misappropriation of NFC funds.
It claimed that the commission had been collecting evidence and testimony since the issue was reported in the Auditor-General’s 2010 report and “appropriate action has already been taken on issues raised”.
When was this MACC special team formed? When did the MACC start collecting evidence and testimony on the NFC scandal and what were the “appropriate action…already taken on the issues raised”?
Nobody expects the MACC to be able to answer these three simple questions, when it had been so clue-less about the NFC scandal so far because of lack of professionalism and political will rather than the lack of investigative expertise.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak continued to keep mum on the cattlegate/cow-condo scandal, saying that he will comment further on the matter “in due course”.
Najib will now use the MACC investigations to justify his continued silence – although behind-the-scene Shahrizat will face mounting pressure to stop being a political liability for UMNO and Barisan Nasional.
Najib has a responsibility however to respond to the lack of public confidence in the independence, integrity and professionalism of the MACC to conduct full untrammelled investigations to get to the bottom of the RM300 million cattlegate/cow-condo scandal and whether he would support the establishment of an independent high-level public inquiry instead.
What the MACC should do is to interrogate Shahrizat about the corruption scandals affecting all UMNO leaders in view of her statement “Which UMNO leader does not have problem” in retort to the RM300 million cattlegate/cow-condo scandal.
This has been reported in Sin Chew (18th December 2011) when she attended a function in Ampang last Wednesday relating to activating the Barisan Nasional Wanita general election machinery.
Sin Chew reported that in retort to calls from inside the party for her to resign, she said that every UMNO leader has got problems and she only chose not to create problems for the party.
Sin Chew quoted Shahrizat as asking: “Tell me, which UMNO leader does not have problem?”
MACC should explain why their officers have not interrogated Shahrizat about the corruption scandals affecting all UMNO leaders in view of her statement “Which UMNO leader does not have problem” in retort to the RM300 million cattlegate/cow-condo scandal last Wednesday?