Rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has demanded government intervention to probe the MACC over alleged misconduct in the detention of two lawyers acting for a client in a property dispute.
LFL executive director Zaid Malek in a statement called out MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki for the anti-graft body’s denial of alleged intimidation, harassment, and interference with the public’s right to legal representation.
“Firstly, it is unacceptable for Azam to outright deny the lawyers’ complaints before even making any enquiry into their allegations.
“This suggests that the MACC is not interested in finding out the truth or the real facts of the matter,” said Zaid.
“Secondly, lawyer Lai Chee Hoe was never the chairperson or a member of the said joint management committee (JMC) as falsely claimed by Azam in his response yesterday.
“Lai was merely acting as the lawyer for said JMC at the material time,” he said.
Yesterday, LFL said Lai was detained from June 4 to June 6 while lawyer Irwin Lo was investigated in an MACC probe.
Without naming names, the MACC yesterday said those detained during an operation on June 4 were among the “prime suspects” in an embezzlement case.
Commenting on the case, the MACC said it was acting on a report received in late May from residents in an area in Damansara, Selangor, who suspected their JMC’s management and maintenance fee collections had been embezzled.
“If the MACC claims that they are investigating the ‘embezzlement’ of a JMC’s funds, then why did the MACC officers demand that the lawyer withdraw from acting for his client? What has this to do with the purported ‘embezzlement’ investigation?
“The explanation that it was a legitimate ‘embezzlement’ investigation is thus far-fetched and ridiculous,” said Zaid.
‘Lawyer-client privilege breached’
Zaid further alleged that the MACC had extensively questioned Lai and Lo about the legal case in which the lawyers were involved in violation of lawyer-client privilege, which is protected under Malaysian law.
The MACC had denied claims of attempts to obtain information related to the lawyers’ clients but Zaid insisted that LFL had shown evidence of requests made for privileged documents.
“Despite such a serious allegation levelled against MACC, it is obvious here that the MACC chief has utterly failed to conduct a proper enquiry and get the facts of the complaint ascertained before issuing a response.
“As such, we demand that the federal government step in and ensure that a proper inquiry is made regarding these allegations against the MACC,” he said.
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