A very long day at MACC

By Radzi Razak
Malaysiakini
Aug 8, 2015

It was a long day at the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) yesterday as uncertainty lingered in wake of a ‘crackdown’ over its probe on SRC International Sdn Bhd’s money allegedly found in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank accounts.

However work continued at the commission with some departments holding a Hari Raya gathering in the last week of the Syawal month.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an officer said while many heard about the impending transfers, they didn’t know who among them would get the order to pack their bags.

“That is until late in the evening when we finally get the news,” the officer told Malaysiakini.

True enough, the directive came late yesterday with MACC special operations division director Bahri Mohamad Zin and strategic communication director Rohaizad Yaakob told to clear their desks.

The pair was unceremoniously transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department purportedly for disciplinary reasons. However, there has been no official confirmation on the transfers.

Bahri did not mince his words in slamming the police for interfering in the MACC probe on SRC International, a Finance Ministry-owned firm.

He blamed hidden hands for the police action and vowed to uncover the culprits.

His division’s probe focused on the transfer of RM42 million from a couple of SRC International subsidiaries to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts between late 2014 and early this year.

Rohaizad meanwhile was publicly seen receiving opposition leaders including Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Lim Kit Siang on Thursday, thanking them for their support.

Staff morale at rock bottom

Not surprisingly, a number of other rumours ran rampant inside the under sieged graft-fighters’ headquarters.

Among them include Special Branch police shadowing several top MACC officers and phones being tapped to uncover a ‘plot to topple a democratically elected leader.’

“We are just trying to do our job. We don’t understand why we were viewed as enemies by certain quarters. We are government servants, not politicians,” an officer lamented.

As expected, morale at the headquarters is at rock bottom. There are talks of other officers on the transfer list as well.

Another officer thanked the media for reporting MACC’s side of the story, admitting this was the first time they felt the commission had backing from the majority of the population.

“Thank you for being here,” the officer said, echoing Rohaizad’s parting shot to the press as he walked to his car yesterday.

Support for MACC was almost unanimous in the social media, with comments in Facebook, Twitter and news portals hailing its investigations.

That said, the MACC saga is still unfolding and the transfer orders of the two key MACC officers yesterday could be the beginning, not the end, of this unprecedented crisis.