Appointment of National Anti-Financial Crime Centre DG will not go through parliament vetting

The appointment of the National Anti-Financial Crime Centre (NFCC)  director-general will not go through the parliamentary select committee on major public appointments, said de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong (above).

"At this moment, there is no such requirement (for the appointment process to pass through the select committee)," he said in a press conference in parliament today.

Earlier, he had tabled a bill in the Dewan Rakyat for the formation of the NFCC, which is meant to be coordinate operations and centralise information relating to financial crimes among government agencies.

The bill states that the director-general will be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the prime minister.

Pakatan Harapan had pledged in its manifesto to curtail the power of the office of the prime minister by shifting his prerogative to appoint the heads of public agencies, to parliament.

However, in June, the appointment of lawyer Latheefa Koya was met with brickbats as it was revealed that her appointment was unilaterally decided by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Back in July, Liew had said the government was devising a mechanism to shift the jurisdiction of major public service appointments from the executive to the legislative. - Mkini