Will MACC be placed under parliamentary oversight? – Hafiz Hassan

A FORMER anti-graft chief once warned individuals against using the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as a political tool.

MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya issued the warning following a statement by the opposition saying that MACC should be fair in investigating corruption cases even if it involved people from the ruling government.

“MACC for a long time was used as a political tool, people lodge reports just to get at each other.

“We strive to be professional and we do not want to be used for this platform,” she told reporters.

Yesterday, Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the MACC was being used as a political tool to destroy Perikatan Nasional (PN) after the anti-graft body froze two of Bersatu’s bank accounts. 

It is the “same old-same old” vitriol against the commission, irrespective of the government of the day.

PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli also called MACC out in November for being a political tool to investigate him, but not taking any actions against corruption cases which he revealed in recent weeks – including alleged wrongdoing involving the littoral combat ships (LCS) scandal.

Rafizi had revealed in a ceramah that his office was “raided” by MACC, with his staff being questioned for up to seven hours.

MACC confirmed the “raid” and said that it seized some documents from Rafizi’s office as part of its investigation into his asset declaration regarding his data analytics company Invoke Solutions Sdn Bhd.

In April, it was then-DAP leader Lim Guan Eng who questioned if the MACC has “become a political weapon used or misused by vested political interests” as observed in a series of what he called “omission and commission” which allowed select government officials and politicians to escape the law while taking a harder stance against others.

In June, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council called on the then government to step up the process of tackling corruption by placing MACC under parliamentary oversight.

Even Dewan Negara president Datuk Seri Rais Yatim had called for MACC to be legally supervised by the Parliament.

The MACC chief back then was – and still is – Tan Sri Azam Baki. Azam had then asserted that MACC was already independent and that there was no need for the anti-graft agency to come under Parliament.

Lim responded to Azam’s remarks by calling for the commission to be placed under Parliament for it to be a truly independent institution, claiming the anti-graft body was not independent as it came under the direct purview of the prime minister.

“MACC must be accountable to Parliament especially when MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki had allowed (it) to be used as a political weapon against opposition MPs and those who oppose the government,” Lim told a news conference.

Does the above sound familiar?

Given the latest vitriol by Bersatu’s Hamzah, will the current unity government make good the call to place the MACC under Parliament? – The Vibes, February 2, 2023

Hafiz Hassan reads The Vibes