Nurul Izzah urges police to probe allegations linked to Azam

 These allegations include the MACC chief's shareholdings and claims the agency’s officials are part of a 'corporate mafia'.

PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the police investigation must focus on the allegations against MACC chief Azam Baki, and not on the Bloomberg report that led to the present controversy.

PETALING JAYA:

 PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar has urged the police to focus their investigation on the allegations involving Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Azam Baki, rather than on Bloomberg which had published the claims in two articles.

Nurul Izzah said the police investigation must focus on the allegations themselves, in line with the principles of transparency and accountability.

“I ask that the police investigation focus on the allegations raised by Bloomberg. It’s simple: if there are allegations, investigate the allegations,” she said in a video on TikTok.

“As they say, you don’t shoot the messenger.”

Bukit Aman’s classified crime investigation unit recently initiated a probe against Bloomberg’s articles for criminal defamation.

Bloomberg reported that Azam held 17.7 million shares in a financial services company, according to a corporate filing with the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

It reported that the shareholding was disclosed in Velocity Capital Bhd’s annual return lodged on Feb 3 last year, and based on the company’s share price at Monday’s close, the stake would be worth about RM800,000.

Azam later clarified that his shares were bought last year and disposed of within the same year. He also said he had declared the shares.

He later threatened legal action against Bloomberg, seeking RM100 million in damages over its report.

Bloomberg also ran another story, this time claiming that MACC officials were part of a “corporate mafia” involved in taking over companies.

MACC has since denied the claim.

Nurul Izzah lauded the government’s decision to establish a special task force to investigate the shareholding allegations, but expressed concern that the findings would not be made public.

She proposed that the allegations surrounding Azam be investigated by a committee that reports to Parliament.

Nurul Izzah said the panel should be chaired by an individual widely regarded as independent and of integrity.

She also said representatives from various agencies should be involved to ensure transparency. - FMT