PKR youths stage 50-car convoy protest against Azam

 

One of the participants carrying a placard urging MACC to clean up its act. Behind him is the convoy of cars.

PUTRAJAYA: About 50 PKR Youth members took part in a convoy from Dataran Putra to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters this morning.

They travelled in 50 vehicles in a protest against MACC chief Azam Baki, who is embroiled in a controversy over ownership of corporate shares.

PKR Youth chief Akmal Nasir said the youth wing wanted Azam to resign from his job and an open and independent investigation to be carried out.

The youth members, with many holding placards saying “Undur Azam” (“Quit, Azam”), handed over a memorandum on reaching the MACC headquarters.

Four PKR Youth members who took part in the convoy to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya.

Akmal said the youth wing wanted Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to place MACC under the jurisdiction of Parliament instead of the prime minister.

He also said Ismail should call for a special parliamentary sitting to discuss the integrity of the anti-corruption agency.

“Parliament will sit on Jan 20 to discuss the floods. At that time, he will have to face MPs who will demand a special sitting,” he said.

Several other leaders, including DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, have asked that a special parliamentary sitting be held on Jan 21 to restore public confidence in the MACC.

Azam and the commission have come under public criticism after it was revealed that he had allowed his brother to buy shares using his trading account.

PKR Youth chief Akmal Nasir says the prime minister should convene a special Parliament sitting to discuss the MACC fiasco.

On Jan 5, MACC’s Anti-Corruption Advisory Board chairman Abu Zahar Ujang cleared him of any wrongdoing, saying Azam had informed the board of this and that the purchase of shares by his brother was not a conflict of interest.

However, the six members of the advisory board distanced themselves from Abu Zahar, claiming that he had merely given his personal view in clearing Azam.

They said they had actually proposed that the matter be referred to an independent committee, the Parliamentary Special Committee on Corruption, or the MACC’s Complaints Panel.

MACC deputy chief commissioners Ahmad Khusairi Yahaya, Norazlan Mohd Razali and Junipah Wandi later came out in support of Azam, saying he was a victim of “revenge politics”. - FMT