MACC being used as political weapon by govt, says Guan Eng

 

Lim Guan Eng laments the decision by the anti-graft agency not to take further action after investigations involving Muhyiddin Yassin and Tajuddin Rahman.

PETALING JAYA: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has accused the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) of being used as a “political weapon” after it classified a probe into former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin as “no further action” (NFA).

In an unverified audio recording that went viral in 2020, the Bersatu president was alleged to have told the party’s supreme council that he planned to entice Umno MPs with Cabinet positions and government-linked company (GLC) jobs to join Bersatu.

“The MACC’s decision that there was no criminal element in the audio clip proves that MACC has allowed itself to become a political weapon in favour of government leaders against opposition leaders,” Lim said in a statement today.

In a written parliamentary reply to Teo Nie Ching (PH-Kulai) on Wednesday, law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said that MACC had completed its investigations into Muhyiddin and found that there was no element of wrongdoing under the MACC Act.

Wan Junaidi also said the investigation against Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman for alleged abuse of power was similarly classified as NFA.

Tajuddin, who was the former Prasarana chairman, was arrested by MACC on May 28, 2021, two days after he was sacked as Prasarana chairman. He was subsequently released on bail.

It was previously reported that his arrest was linked to an investigation by MACC into the appointment of his son-in-law at Prasarana.

“This is probably the first time in history that an MP arrested by MACC is then let off and released without being charged in court,” Lim said.

The Bagan MP alleged that the MACC’s “disappointing lack of consistency and commitment” in combating corruption would see the country’s rankings in Transparency International’s (TI) annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) slide even further.

In January, TI-Malaysia said the country had dropped five spots to 62 out of the 100 countries in TI’s annual CPI ranking.

The anti-graft watchdog said Malaysia’s ranking was the lowest since the methodology was revised in 2012. - FMT