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PUTRAJAYA - The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has stressed that it did not serve an asset declaration notice on the 12-year-old son of former Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.
MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Abd Halim Aman said claims that the agency had served the notice on the child and required his attendance in person were inaccurate.
He said MACC had exercised its discretion not to serve the notice on the child.
"We did not serve the notice on the child. Although the law does not specifically stipulate an age category (adult or child) in relation to the term ‘relative or associate’, we exercised our discretion based on what was reasonable and decided not to serve the notice on his 12-year-old son,” he told a press conference held in conjunction with the MACC’s 59th anniversary celebration at its headquarters here today.
Abd Halim said MACC had never required the child to be physically present at the agency’s headquarters on Monday.
"No, it was not that he was required to come physically...it was more that the parents brought their children along.
"Perhaps there was no one to leave them with at home and so on, so bringing them along was quite normal,” he said.
On Monday, Saravanan, together with his wife and two children, was reported to have gone to the MACC headquarters to receive the notice.
Abd Halim explained that the asset declaration notice was issued under Section 36 of the MACC Act 2009, and a period of 30 days was given, but it could be extended with reasonable grounds.
The notice was issued in connection with MACC’s ongoing investigation into the case involving Saravanan.
The Tapah MP faces three charges of accepting bribes totalling nearly RM1.09 million in connection with the approval of 1,000 foreign worker quotas for a company at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court. - BERNAMA
