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Where is the report of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Corruption on the first year of operation of MACC which is to be tabled and debated in present meeting of Parliament?

More than a month ago and before the start of the present meeting of Parliament, the Chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Corruption Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad called for a parliamentary debate on its report on the first year of operation of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Radzi said allowing a parliamentary debate on the MACC would be a healthy development in improving the performance of MACC.

Under the MACC Act, the Special Committee on Corruption comprising MPs is to submit an annual report to the Prime Minister, who will then table it in Parliament.

The Special Committee on Corruption had completed its report. However, it is now at the end of the present meeting of Parliament which will end next week and there is no sign of the report of the Special Committee on Corruption being tabled in Parliament to enable a special parliamentary debate to be held in the current session.

This is most troubling and goes against all the talk of achieving the NKRA targets which includes eradication of corruption especially “grand corruption”, which means action against the “big fishes”.
Continue reading “Where is the report of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Corruption on the first year of operation of MACC which is to be tabled and debated in present meeting of Parliament?”

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Turning MACC into a law unto itself

By Tunku Abdul Aziz

A certain member of Parliament heading an MACC committee has suggested that MACC should not only be given more money, as if the tens of millions of ringgit of government funds already dished out are still insufficient, but also the power to prosecute cases investigated by that organisation itself. A monstrous idea even if the MACC had a reputation for the highest professional integrity which, of course, it hasn’t. The fact of the matter is that this much touted independent corruption fighting outfit modelled on the Hong Kong ICAC continues to be regarded with a degree of disdain.

The MAC does not enjoy the cachet and the public trust and confidence of the Malaysian public. Only corrupt politicians and public servants have complete trust in the MACC, but, sadly, for all the wrong reasons. Someone somewhere has to have his head examined for even thinking of making the MACC a law unto itself. Has the YB concerned not heard of the need for a system of checks and balances or the vital necessity of avoiding a conflict of interest situation in the conduct of public affairs as a means of reducing corruption? The whole harebrained suggestion is akin to allowing the Attorney-General to double as a judge in a case he has decided as AG to prosecute! He may well relish the idea, but will justice be served in the process? Or perhaps we don’t care.
Continue reading “Turning MACC into a law unto itself”

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MACC cancels London interview with PI Bala

By Aidila Razak | Malaysiakini

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will not record the statement of private investigator P Balasubramaniam in London after all.

Instead, it will submit questions to his lawyers and request that the witness responds in the form of an affidavit, MACC deputy commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull told a press conference today.

“We will write to the witness’ lawyers tomorrow to inform them of the decision, and to submit the questions,” he said.

He said that the decision was made upon advice from the attorney-general’s chambers, after considering the Eric Chia case where a witness statement recorded overseas was not allowed to be tendered as evidence in the corruption trial.

According to MACC Legal and Prosecution Director Abdul Razak Musa, the decision not to record Balasubramaniam’s statement was also influenced by decisions on Thai pathologist Pornthip Rojanasunand’s testimony in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest.
Continue reading “MACC cancels London interview with PI Bala”

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MACC gets a dirty dozen sacked in 2009

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — Only 12 out of the estimated 1.2 million civil servants were sacked rather than disciplined in 2009 in graft-related cases investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in its first year of operations.

According to documents made available to The Malaysian Insider, the MACC had forwarded 235 reports to the heads of government departments and agencies for disciplinary action in 2009.

However the MACC received feedback for only 182 cases, of which 90 or 49 per cent were given administrative warning.

And only 12 or 6.6 per cent of the public officials under probe were dismissed in 2009 although the MACC’s prosecution unit had sought disciplinary action be taken against the perpetrators.

MACC had also recommended that the government take a more proactive approach in its crusade against any breach of conduct in the country’s bloated public service.
Continue reading “MACC gets a dirty dozen sacked in 2009”

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Ku Li on corruption and Exocet missiles

Below is an extract of the speech by Umno veteran politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the launch of ‘The Shafee Yahaya Story – Estate Boy to ACA Chief’, a book written by Shafee’s wife Kalsom Taib.

The word ‘corruption’ comes from a Latin word meaning ‘to break’ or ‘to destroy’. Corruption is a cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at governance and moral fibre, and destroys trust.

Although corruption exists in both the private and public sector, the corruption of the public sector is a more fundamental evil. This is because the public sector is the enforcer and arbiter of the rules that hold us together, the custodians of our common resources.

It is time we recognise corruption as the single biggest threat to our nation. In our economy, corruption is the root of our inability to make the economic leap that we know we are capable of. There is no other reason why a country so blessed with natural resources, a favourable climate and such immense talent should not have done a lot better than we have.
Continue reading “Ku Li on corruption and Exocet missiles”

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‘When will PKFZ probe be done – Resurrection Day?’

By S Pathmawathy | Malaysiakini

Though the newly-appointed Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha has said there is no need to look further into the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) fiasco, opposition veteran Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) has refused to let the matter go.

The DAP veteran politician during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat, demanded to know why then-Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy has not been probed despite being implicated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the controversy.

The PAC had recommended in its report on the PKFZ controversy last year that Chan be probed for criminal breach of trust (CBT) over his allegedly wrongful issuance of three letters of support.

Chan was said to have issued the letters of support for a turnkey contractor without the approval of the Finance Ministry to raise funds for the PKFZ project, costs of which may balloon to a whopping RM12.5 billion.
Continue reading “‘When will PKFZ probe be done – Resurrection Day?’”

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RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal – More stonewalling

Tweets @limkitsiang:

My Q in Parl – progress in MACC campaign agnst ‘grand corruption’ n Y no big fish in PKFZ scandal nabbed?
Wednesday, June 09, 2010 10:02 AM

But as expected Stonewalling answer saying MACC investigating although I reminded House of AG saying last Dec that more arrests 2come RT @beyondrock Now that is a good Question
Wednesday, June 09, 201010:29 AM

Asked why no action on PAC proposal agnst exTransp Minister ChanKongChoy 4CBT 4issue illegal LettersOfSupport DepMin LiewVuiKeong was silent
Wednesday, June 09, 2010 10:40 AM

AGGani said Dec re PKFZ:”This is just tip of d iceberg..just 1st phase of investigations..certainly not end of matter but just beginning..Other individuals will b charged in stages” Now nothing after >6mths
Wednesday, June 09, 2010 10:50 AM

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With 2 out 5 civil servants deemed corrupt by CUEPACS, the MACC is a big flop as it did not even arrest 0.1 per cent of the corrupt civil servants last year

Cuepacs President Omar Osman said in Temerloh last night that a total of 418,200 or 41 per cent of the 1.2 million civil servants in the country were suspected to be involved in corruption last year.

This is the Bernama report last night:

41 Per Cent Of Civil Servants Suspected Involved In Graft Last Year – Cuepacs

TEMERLOH, June 2 (Bernama) — A total of 418,200 or 41 per cent of the 1.2 million civil servants in the country were suspected to be involved in corruption last year, said Cuepacs president Omar Osman.

He said this was worrying and needed to be tackled urgently.

“To combat the scourge, Cuepacs will work closely with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission so that civil servants involved in corrupt activities can be brought to book,” he told reporters after opening the triennial general meeting of one of the affiliates of the umbrella union, here Wednesday.
Continue reading “With 2 out 5 civil servants deemed corrupt by CUEPACS, the MACC is a big flop as it did not even arrest 0.1 per cent of the corrupt civil servants last year”

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Re: Idris Jala: M’sia must cut subsidies, debt by 2019 or risk bankruptcy

Letters
by Sara Wak

Dear YB Idris Jala and Koh Tsu Koon,

For the last many years, the BN Govt has been handing big ang pows to the rich Malays who are given APs, and it has been said by the BN Govt that this practice will go on until 2013 0r even 2014!

Why can’t the Govt control the issue of APs to people who want to import cars? The govt can collect RM30,000 to RM40,000 on each important cars. Why must the BN Govt decides to pass the right to collect these payments to only a handful of rich Malays?

How many APs are issued to these rich Malays a year ? Like what Rafidah did when she was minister , in giving APs and shares to her relatives?

The Malaysian Economy has deteriorated so much for the last decade because of all these handouts to the UMNO cronies. Malaysia was ahead of Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, and look at it now, it is even behind countries like Thailand, Vietnam and others in Asia !
Continue reading “Re: Idris Jala: M’sia must cut subsidies, debt by 2019 or risk bankruptcy”

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Inspector-General of MACC: Have we gone mad?

By Tunku Abdul Aziz

The very idea that the headman of the MACC be accorded a status equivalent to that of the Inspector-General of Police was so hilarious that I, a grown man, was driven to sobbing uncontrollably before I doubled up, laughing my head off. I have, in my lifetime, been through many strange and unusual situations, but I must confess to a sense of incredulity that members of the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board headed by former Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad were prepared to risk their collective reputation by putting this recommendation forward. It is absurdity personified.

The other recommendations, including the establishment of a statutory commission on appointments, and the need to have interrogation rooms equipped with CCTV cameras, must rank as among the most facile suggestions ever made by a group of people who lay claim to expert knowledge and experience of a level considered sufficient to justify their being appointed to the advisory board.

In the event, by their earth-shattering recommendations, they have confirmed what I have known all along: they know nothing about fighting corruption or, for that matter, the chief commissioner, if he had to be “advised” on what equipment was needed to be put in place to make the interrogation process more open and transparent, then he has no business to be there in the first place. I make no apology for using the word interrogation in relation to the methods adopted by the MACC when dealing with witnesses. The word interview is yet to be part of the MACC’s corruption fighting lexicon.
Continue reading “Inspector-General of MACC: Have we gone mad?”

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Vote BN for bankruptcy, warns Pakatan

Malaysian Insider
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
May 29, 2010

KOTA BARU, May 29 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders used dire forecasts of a gloomy future if there are no subsidy cuts to warn that voting for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election would lead the country to bankruptcy.

A government minister this week had predicted Malaysia could be bankrupt by 2019 if it does not begin to cut subsidies for petrol, electricity, food and other staples, which cost RM74 billion last year. But the Najib administration is waiting for public feedback before deciding on actual cuts.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said it was not subsidies but BN’s corruption and abuse of power that has led the country to current financial crisis.

“I cannot imagine if DAP, PKR or PAS had made the announcement that country will be bankrupt by 2019. If we did, Umno would have labelled us as anti-nationalist and traitors. We probably would have been locked up in ISA and given free food.

“Remember Vision 2020? We were supposed to become a developed nation by 2020 but unfortunately one year before 2020, we are already bankrupt,” he told a crowd last night in Tanah Merah, a two-hour drive from the Kelantan state capital.

Lim was one of many PR leaders in the state speaking at ceramahs ahead of the PKR convention this weekend. Continue reading “Vote BN for bankruptcy, warns Pakatan”

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Despite feverish attempts to refurbish the image of MACC on many fronts in recent days, it has not been able to improve one jot of public confidence …

The New Straits Times today carried the screaming front-page headline: “MACC steps in – probe under way into Sime Darby’s losses” but nobody is impressed, not least when less than a week earlier the MACC Deputy Commissisoner Datuk Mohd Shukri Abdul said the commission will let Sime Darby complete its internal investigation first.

Shukri said: “If Sime Darby doesn’t have the experience on how to pinpoint corruption, they can ask for MACC’s help.”

He said MACC will open an investigation file into the financial affairs of the conglomerate GLC if any element of corruption is suspected in its massive billion-ringgit losses in its third quarter results.

What happened in the past week? Did Sime Darby ask for MACC’s help or did MACC discover “element of corruption” in the massive billion-ringgit losses in Sime Darby’s third-quarter?

Or is MACC just thirsting for cheap publicity and front-page headlines hoping to impress the Malaysian public with publicity stunts rather than professionalism and concrete results?

If billion-ringgit corporate losses are themselves justification for the MACC to open an investigation file, has MACC opened any investigation file into the mega-losses of the Bakun dam project – as it is reported to have incurred total cost overruns of RM1.7 billion?

And what about all the other billion-ringgit government, GLC or corporate losses? Continue reading “Despite feverish attempts to refurbish the image of MACC on many fronts in recent days, it has not been able to improve one jot of public confidence …”

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Why MACC “may” and not “shall” call Najib in for investigation over his infamous RM5 million “let’s make a deal” speech in the Sibu by-election?

At the Cheras DAP Solidarity Dinner in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night, I had posed the question – Why the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) dare not announce it will probe Datuk Seri Najib Razak if corruption is suspected in the Prime Minister’s infamous RM5million “deal” at Rejang Park, Sibu on the eve of Sibu by-election polling?

I posed this question as the New Straits Times had on Thursday carried the headline: “MACC; Sime probe if graft suspected” following nation-wide furore over the latest financial scandal in the country – the RM964 million Sime Darby losses from cost overruns from four projects in its Energy and Utilities Unit, in particular the Bakun Dam project.

I asked the MACC, why the double-standards in its reaction to these two cases, especially when there is ample evidence for investigation whether the Prime Minister had been guilty of corrupt practices in the recent Sibu by-election campaign particularly in his infamous RM5 million “deal” at Rejang Park, Sibu on the eve of Sibu by-election.

The YouTube video of Najib’s Rejang Park’s “let’s make a deal” speech, promising to allocate RM5 million for flood-mitigation in Rejang Park provided the BN candidate was elected, had been the hottest site for the past week.

Outrage and disbelief are the common reactions of Malaysians and even foreigners who saw the YouTube video, with Najib declaring in his own words: “If Robert Lau becomes the MP on Sunday, on Monday I will ask [for] the cheque to be prepared. Do we have a deal or not? We do! You want the RM5 million, I want Robert Lau to win.” Continue reading “Why MACC “may” and not “shall” call Najib in for investigation over his infamous RM5 million “let’s make a deal” speech in the Sibu by-election?”

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Why MACC dare not announce it will probe Najib if corruption is suspected in the Prime Minister’s infamous RM5million “deal” at Rejang Park, Sibu on the eve of Sibu by-election polling?

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) does not want to be left out in the nation-wide furore over the latest financial scandal in the country – the RM964 million Sime Darby losses from cost overruns from four projects in its Energy and Utilities Unit, in particular the Bakun Dam project.

Thursday’s New Straits Times carried this headline: “MACC; Sime probe if graft suspected”.

My instant thought is when there is going to be a newspaper headline: “MACC: PM probe if graft suspected”.

Not that there is not enough cause. The recent Sibu by-election provides the MACC ample evidence for investigation against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, whether he had been guilty of corrupt practices particularly in the infamous RM5 million “deal” at Rejang Park, Sibu on the eve of Sibu by-election – which is on YouTube for all to see.

Has the MACC the guts, commitment and professionalism to investigate the Prime Minister for corruption?

I am not even talking about arresting and charging the Prime Minister for corruption – just to open a probe on the Prime Minister.
Continue reading “Why MACC dare not announce it will probe Najib if corruption is suspected in the Prime Minister’s infamous RM5million “deal” at Rejang Park, Sibu on the eve of Sibu by-election polling?”

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Najib’s infamous Sibu campaign speech – Seeing is Believing

I read Mariam Mokhtar’s article “‘Deal or no deal’ falls flat” in Malaysiakini this morning dismembering Prime Minister Najib Razak’s RM5million-for-offer speech at Rejang Park, Sibu in the final hours of the Sibu by-election campaign Polling Eve on Saturday.

I knew about Najib’s dishonourable RM5 million offer to the people of Rejang Park to mitigate their flood problems – a drop in the ocean as Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had admitted that it would cost at least RM1 billion to resolve Sibu’s long-neglected floods problem – in return for BN candidate Robert Lau elected as MP for Sibu.

But I had not seen the video of Najib’s infamous speech and I did not fully believe what Mariam wrote – as I just could not imagine the Prime Minister of the country saying, doing and behaving the way she has written.

This is why I started on the hunt for the video on the Internet. It was not difficult to find. The Malaysiakini video had been put up on many sites, including other electronic websites.

I was just astounded that Mariam was 100% right and Najib did say, act and behave as she has described and rightly castigated him.

It is indeed “Seeing is Believing”.

Mariam’s was a Must Read article. This is a Must View video!
Continue reading “Najib’s infamous Sibu campaign speech – Seeing is Believing”

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Radzi doing the nation a grave disservice in down-playing the public crisis of confidence facing MACC

The Chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Corruption, former Home Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad is doing the nation a grave disservice in downplaying the crisis of confidence facing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Radzi said in Parlimanet after the meeting of the Special Committee on Corruption that MACC’s image has suffered after Teoh Beng Hock’s death and loss of several court cases.

MACC’s image was already on the nosedive before Teoh Beng Hock’s tragic death at the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16 – as the MACC did not act as an independent, professional and fearless fighter against corruption but conducted itself as a shameless catspaw of Umno/Barisan Nasional to further their ulterior political agenda against the Pakatan Rakyat – but Teoh Beng Hock’s death sent MACC into a tailspin into the abyss of infamy from which it had not yet been able to redeem itself.

This was why nobody shed any tears when the first MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan retired early under a cloud for MACC under him had ended its first year with lower public confidence and esteem than when it started – actually fulfilling the worst fears of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Continue reading “Radzi doing the nation a grave disservice in down-playing the public crisis of confidence facing MACC”

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Malaysian Submarine Scandal Continues

Asia Sentinel
by Hamish McKenzie
28 April 2010

French Lawyer Looks for Answers for Scandal in Kuala Lumpur

Joseph Breham, one of a team of lawyers looking into allegations of corruption in a Malaysian submarine purchase from a French defense conglomerate, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday that he had filed a 10-page inquiry with the French courts that calls into question the actions of a company with close ties to the Malaysian Prime Minister’s best friend and aide, Abdul Razak Baginda.

Breham is also expected to question several witnesses in Kuala Lumpur about the case, which has broken into the open after years of silence in Malaysia. The inquiry, which now rests with independent French prosecutors, is directed at a €114 million (US$151.1 million) commission paid to a company called Perimekar, which Breham’s legal team suggests was established in 2001 purely for the purpose of receiving the kickback. Najib Tun Razak, then Malaysia’s defense minister, led the negotiations with the French government to buy the two Scorpene-class submarines, build by Armaris, a subsidary of the French defense giant DCN, and to lease a third a few months later, in 2002.

Political reformers in Malaysia say they are placing their hopes on the French investigation to get to the bottom of the payment to Perimekar and its implications because, they say, there is little hope that the Malaysian justice system will bring the truth to light. Despite repeated requests for information by opposition leaders in Malaysia’s parliament, Najib and other top members of the government have refused to answer. Continue reading “Malaysian Submarine Scandal Continues”

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Twitter spat on Najib’s HS RM3m pledge to SRJKC Rasa

weekasiongmp:
RT @NajibRazak: Honoured the ppl of HS have given us their vote. Our work has just begun. focus now is on delivering on what we promised.
04/26/2010 03:39 PM

limkitsiang:
Well if Najib can spend RM77 million 2wangle a Najib-Obama meet, what is RM200 million 2wangle byelection victory though pyrrhic victory
04/26/2010 03:39 PM

limkitsiang:
Pyrrhic victory – a victory with such devastating cost 2victor; carries implication anthr such will ultmtly cause defeat http://bit.ly/X4MMf
04/26/2010 03:44 PM

limkitsiang:
Based on 24,997 BN votes will work out 2RM6,666 per head RT @Maobi72: @limkitsiang Sdr. you can only divide based on voter turn out..
04/26/2010 03:56 PM
Continue reading “Twitter spat on Najib’s HS RM3m pledge to SRJKC Rasa”

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Would MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers resign if Najib does not honour his Hulu Selangor by-election promise to issue RM3 million cheque today for building of new Rasa Chinese primary school?

The 1,725-vote majority victory of the Barisan Nasional in the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election yesterday is a pyrrhic victory for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – so devastatingly costly both in political and monetary terms that they lay the seeds for the forthcoming defeat of the Barisan Nasional.

The Barisan Nasional has a bill of over RM100 million for its Hulu Selangor by-election campaign – RM60 million for various infrastructure projects and easily more than RM40 million for the Barisan Nasional election campaigners and the many rent-a-crowd outings for the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers.

After such outpourings of money politics, the 1,725-vote majority is actually more a defeat than a victory for Najib and the Barisan Nasional.

The UMNO target was to win Hulu Selangor with at least 6,000-vote majority and the Umno leadership was so confident of this huge victory that the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin went public on this Umno objective mid-day during Hulu Selangor polling yesterday.
Continue reading “Would MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers resign if Najib does not honour his Hulu Selangor by-election promise to issue RM3 million cheque today for building of new Rasa Chinese primary school?”

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MACC should investigate whether Najib had committed at least two election bribery offences under Election Offences Act 1957 in the Hulu Selangor by-election campaign yesterday

It has been brought to my attention that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should investigate whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had committed at least two election bribery offences under the Election Offences Act 1957 in the Hulu Selangor by-election campaign for the Barisan Nasional candidate yesterday.

The first incident was his blatant disregard of the Election Offences Act against bribery when he tried to induce the 1,500 voters of Rasa to vote for the BN candidate by announcing the approval of RM3 million for rebuilding Rasa Chinese Primary School but with one big condition.

Najib publicly declared: “If we win this by-election, you can come to Kuala Lumpur the next day to look for me. I will write a personal letter to approve the money and it will be transferred to the school board’s account. If we lose, don’t have to come.”

The second incident was during his visit to Kampong Hassan where he promised the Chinese-majority voters in the area that the Barisan Nasional government would build 200 low-cost housing for them if the BN candidate wins the by-election.
Continue reading “MACC should investigate whether Najib had committed at least two election bribery offences under Election Offences Act 1957 in the Hulu Selangor by-election campaign yesterday”