Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh today told the public not to be involved in corruption, including giving bribes.
This was after MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki, who was present, earlier repeated his assertions distinguishing a whistleblower and a witness based on their proximity to criminal activities.
“You cannot, on one hand, accuse the officers, (but) on the other hand, you feed the officers. This has to stop,” Yeoh said at the signing ceremony of a strategic cooperation agreement between her department and MACC in Putrajaya.
However, this raises questions about why the alleged bribe giver in the case of former Malaysian Defence Intelligence Organisation director-general Razali Alias had not been charged.
On Jan 29, Razali claimed trial to three charges relating to kickbacks, including a bribe for himself and two return flight tickets to Europe for his wife.
He was accused of taking the inducements from Intelligence PC Centre Sdn Bhd director Sheikh Ahmad Nafiq Sheikh A Rahman.
Sabah scandal
This case has brought up stark comparisons to that of businessperson Albert Tei, who exposed a massive corruption scandal in Sabah in November 2024, implicating at least 15 politicians and state leaders.
Since then, authorities have pressed charges on only two of them and Tei, despite the businessperson requesting protection as a whistleblower.
In December, Tei pleaded not guilty to charges of giving bribes to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s former senior political aide, Shamsul Iskandar Akin. The axed Malacca PKR chief was also charged with receiving bribes from the businessperson.
Azam has previously asserted that Tei cannot be classified as a whistleblower due to the latter's involvement in the crime he exposed.
Former MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya criticised this, arguing that there is nothing under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 that hinders a supposedly tainted whistleblower or informant from protection.
She said prosecuting informants whose information and exposè led to a series of investigations, arrests, and eventually charges in court is not a “serious way” to tackle corruption. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.