No political motive in Azmin's newphew's arrest, says MACC

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Dzulkifli Ahmad has denied that the arrest of the Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali’s nephew was politically motivated.

“Any action that we take is based on information that we receive, and if there is (a) basis for the information, we will conduct an investigation. So it is free of political interference, or the so-called sabotage," he told reporters at the commission’s headquarters in Putrajaya today. 

“I want to stress this; We should be professional. Let MACC perform its tasks and responsibilities. Let us complete the investigation; the investigation is ongoing, they had been remanded, and we will wait and see what happens next week,” he said when asked about allegations of a political motive behind the arrest.

Azmin’s 34-year old nephew had been arrested together with three other suspects on Nov 29 for alleged involvement in illegal sand and gravel mining operations in Selangor.

The sand mining firm had allegedly been bribing local officials in Kajang where it has been operating since 2014.

However, Azmin’s office and Azmin himself had decried that it was a conspiracy against the state government ahead of the coming General Election.

"Umno bloggers had released the information even before the MACC took action. Why did this happen?" Azmin asked on Nov 30.

Meanwhile, at MACC’s headquarters, Dzulkifli took a swipe against the commission’s critics whom he said were outspoken against corruption but at the same time, became “part of the disease” when confronted with corruption and the misuse of power.

“For example, people sometimes question or criticise the MACC for not taking this or that action, but when stopped by enforcement officers on the road and asked, “What do you want? Do you want to settle here on in court?”, that outspoken person becomes a mouse and opts to settle on the spot. That’s bribery.

“So we hope that Malaysians would say ‘no’ when confronted with the issue. If we are wrong, settle it in court, not with the enforcement officer,” he told a group of about 60 members from the Malaysian Young Graduates Association (Graduan).

He said this is why the MACC is pushing to educate the public so that they would not only resent corruption but also report it.

Graduan was visiting the MACC on a day-long visit to the commission’s headquarters, which culminated in the signing a Corruption-Free Pledge.

Dzulkifli lauded Graduan’s move to sign the pledge, saying that the group is the first student group to take the initiative to do so.

This is important as the university students of today are the ones who would become top leaders in Malaysia in 2050, he said. -Mkini