PKR team to lobby HK lawmakers to reopen Musa graft probe

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Gagged from speaking in Parliament, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli will lead a four-man delegation to Hong Kong tomorrow to pressure the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) into reopening its graft probe on Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman.

Rafizi explained that the only way to reopen the case was by convincing Hong Kong lawmakers that the case would significantly impact the image of the ICAC, an internationally renowned anti-graft agency.

He said the lawmakers could help campaign on PKR’s behalf to ensure that the case would be brought under review.

“We were advised that if we were to approach this case from the perspective of maintaining the ICAC’s reputation, the case can be campaigned by the members of Hong Kong’s legislative council.

“The members can speak to the ICAC and its review committee to get to the bottom of this so that the agency’s name is not abused abroad,” he told a press conference here.

Rafizi said the objectives of the two-day fact finding mission were to uncover the reasons behind the ICAC’s closure of Musa’s case and if it had been due to the Malaysian authorities’ refusal to co-operate, as well as to reopen the RM40 million money-laundering probe involving Musa(picture) and Sabah timber trader Michael Chia.

He said the delegation would file a formal request with the ICAC’s Operations Review Committee (ORC) for the case to be reopened in light of recent developments that he said warrants a second investigation.

Among others, Rafizi pointed to his recent expose on the “gratification” received by Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz’s family from Chia which, he said, was suspect as the Umno minister had been the one who first “cleared” Musa of allegations of corruption. Chia’s alleged link with Musa first exploded in the media following an April article by whistleblower site Sarawak Report, which had claimed that the former was caught trying to leave the Hong Kong International Airport with the RM40 million in Singapore currency.

At the time, Chia had allegedly told the authorities that the money was meant for Musa.

The issue hit the headlines again last month when Nazri told Parliament that Musa had been cleared of corruption in the matter after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the ICAC had found that the money was a “political donation” to Sabah Umno and was not meant for Musa’s personal use.

But in the ensuing debates on the issue, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers chided Nazri for declaring Musa innocent without providing proof that the ICAC had cleared the chief minister of its own accord.

According to Nazri, however, the ICAC had closed the case after the MACC discovered in its probe that the money in Chia’s possession was meant for Sabah Umno and not Musa.

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