PETALING JAYA: The Securities Commission’s (SC) inability to conclusively establish if Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Azam Baki (pix) had committed any violation of the law is “unacceptable”, whistleblower Professor Dr Edmund Terence Gomez said today.
Gomez, a member of a MACC oversight panel, said the government had also failed to act decisively on the controversy over Azam’s ownership of shares, allowing him to remain on duty as the MACC chief commissioner while under investigattion.
“We are told by the SC that it is unable to determine if Azam breached the law.
“This disturbing series of events, where investigations have been hampered or have not reached a satisfactory conclusion, indicates why is was imperative that Azam should have been instructed to go on garden leave when the allegations first emerged,” Gomez reportedly said in a statement today.
Adding further, Gomez urged the government to immediately establish an independent committee to review the matter, given that SC was unable to “provide an informed view” of the allegations against Azam.
Azam is currently embroiled in a controversy involving the purchase of corporate shares between 2015 and 2016, while he was the MACC director of investigations.
Yesterday, the Security Commissions (SC) said it was unable to determine whether Azam had breached section 25(4) of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act 1991 in allowing his brother Nasir to use his trading account.
Section 25 stipulates that every securities account opened with a central depository must be in the name of the beneficial owner of the deposited securities or an authorised nominee.
Azam had previously revealed that his brother used his trading account to purchase millions of shares in Excel Force MSC Bhd and Gets Global Bhd in 2015-16. At the time, Azam was the MACC investigations director.
Following the SC’s decision yesterday, Azam said he was grateful that the SC had cleared him of wrongdoing and he will continue his responsibilities as the MACC chief following the outcome of the inquiry.
“Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), I am thankful for the decision of the SC which has found that I have not committed any offence. I have been informed by the SC that the inquiry into the matter has been concluded. As such, it has closed the inquiry file accordingly,“ he said.
