Senior lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla has taken former minister Rafizi Ramli to task for not lodging a report with the MACC when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim allegedly used the anti-graft agency to influence the PKR polls in May.
He said whether the MACC would have acted on the complaint was “secondary”, stressing that Rafizi should have done the right thing at the time instead of raising the matter seven months later.
“If this allegation is true, and there were grounds to investigate the prime minister for abuse of power under the MACC Act, a report should have been filed,” Haniff said on a podcast.
Haniff was responding to Rafizi’s claim that PKR members who contested against candidates aligned with Anwar’s daughter, Nurul Izzah, had found themselves in MACC’s crosshairs.
Rafizi, who lost his PKR deputy presidency to Nurul Izzah, cited an alleged incident during the party polls in which a candidate aligned with him was detained and investigated by MACC over the cash purchase of an auctioned house.
He claimed the individual - whom he did not name - had his home surrounded by MACC officers, leaving the man’s wife and children terrified.
Elaborating, Haniff said both the candidate and Rafizi should have lodged reports at the time, all the more so because Rafizi was still a minister then.
“If we want to oppose wrongdoing, it must be done at the moment it occurs, even if we are ministers. So why didn’t you report it then, or even a month later, after you stepped down?
“How can people respect your principles when you fail to act at the right time? The public cannot accept this kind of politics - staying silent about alleged wrongdoing while in power,” he said.
‘Need more MPs like Hassan’
Haniff also referenced Rafizi’s criticism over judicial appointments and the extension of MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki’s contract.
He asked if the Pandan lawmaker, who had vowed to arrest Azam if Pakatan Harapan came into power before the last general election, had raised his concerns during the weekly cabinet meetings when he was still a minister.
“If he didn’t do so, then Rafizi has no right to talk about these things now.
“This is why I often say politics in Malaysia is in the doldrums. Because when political leaders should raise issues, they keep quiet, except for one person - PKR lawmaker Hassan Karim.
“We need 10 or 15 MPs like Hassan,” he said, in reference to the Pasir Gudang MP, who is perceived as a rebel for not toeing the party or government line on numerous issues.
On the same note, Haniff said it is not too late for Rafizi or the PKR candidate to lodge reports with the police and MACC, and to press for a special investigation panel to be formed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to look into the allegations against Anwar and Azam.
At the same time, the lawyer said the panel should also probe the videos related to a conversation between businessperson Albert Tei, who exposed the Sabah mining scandal, and a woman accused of being a proxy of Anwar’s former political aide, Shamsul Iskandar Akin, in which Anwar and Azam were implicated. - Mkini
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