What’s the Cabinet’s stand on SC ‘clearing’ Azam, asks Kit Siang

 

MACC chief Azam Baki is alleged to have bought millions of shares and warrants in public-listed companies.

PETALING JAYA: The Cabinet should make its stance clear on the Securities Commission of Malaysia’s (SC) inability to determine whether anti-graft buster Azam Baki broke the law over his ownership of shares, said DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang.

In a statement today, the Iskandar Puteri MP said the Cabinet should also ask Azam, who heads the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), to go on leave until the question of whether he had breached the law had been answered “one way or another” by other investigative agencies.

Lim said this included the parliamentary select committee on agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department, which was scheduled to meet today to discuss the issue. The meeting was postponed as Parliament secretary Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin said there were issues that needed to be referred to Parliament’s legal adviser.

“Only an imbecile will regard the Securities Commission’s statement as fully clearing Azam of any breach of the law, and a declaration that Azam is therefore innocent,” said Lim.

“If the Cabinet does nothing, which means the Cabinet agrees that the SC’s statement is a declaration that Azam is innocent, Malaysians are entitled to regard the present Cabinet as comprising of ministers with a low power of comprehension and the worst Cabinet in Malaysian history.”

The SC yesterday said it had concluded its inquiry into Azam, and based on the evidence gathered, it could not “conclusively establish” if he had breached Section 25 (4) of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act 1991 (Sicda).

Section 25 (4) of Sicda states that a trading account must be opened in the name of the beneficial owner or the authorised nominee.

Azam is alleged to have bought millions of shares and warrants in public-listed companies with a value over the RM100,000 cap on equity holdings by civil servants.

He has denied any wrongdoing, stating that his brother used his trading account to buy shares in public-listed companies. - FMT