The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) today questioned if the MACC chief commissioner’s comment on Malaysia’s rank in Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was an attempt at minimising his own culpability.
In a statement today, the anti-corruption group said Azam Baki’s criticism of Transparency International for including human rights and business ethics in its corruption index was wrong.
“Azam, as the chief commissioner, should better explain the CPI’s value rather than discredit the country-wide index, and worse, make statements that decouple corruption and its links with democracy, human rights and business interests.
“This is an extremely shallow take on corruption that belies a lack of understanding on the subject, and a shocking one coming from a top graft buster.
“To state that corruption has little to do with human rights and business ethics is simply wrong - the continued harassment of journalists and crackdown on free speech in an attempt to silence those who would reveal abuses of power perpetrated by the government demonstrates a clear link between corruption and human rights, to provide just one example,” it said.
Need for ‘evidence’ puzzling
Azam was quoted by The Malaysian Insight on Thursday as saying that the CPI ranking does not necessarily reflect the actual corruption situation of a country.
He said the CPI measures the perceptions of corruption in the public sector in different countries and it wasn't factual nor based on evidence.
He added that Malaysia, being ranked 62 on the TI-CPI, was better than Vietnam (rank 87), Indonesia (96) and Thailand (110).
C4 reminded Azam that his claim of the index measuring perceptions was never disputed.
However, it said that Azam’s insistence on the need for “evidence” in relation to assessing corruption was puzzling.
“The nature of corruption is such that related acts such as bribery, diversion of public funds, use of public office for private gain are acts done covertly, meaning that procuring evidence for corrupt practices necessitates investigations that can only be undertaken by robust and independent enforcement agencies, like the MACC.
“If there is a lack of evidence, it follows that there should be more investigations by the agencies who are empowered to do so.
“The evidence on which Azam places so much importance can only be reliably collected by agencies like the MACC and law enforcement, and subject to proper deliberation in a court of law.
“If investigations against powerful officials are dropped without proper justification, if transparency regarding the allocation of government funding is hidden behind secrecy laws, or if the judiciary is unable to act because of ostensible undue influence, these are also strong indicators of corruption,” it said.
It added that the perception of corruption arising from a lack of government transparency or conflict of interest is a problem that should not necessitate “evidence” to substantiate its problematic nature.
It reminded Azam that it was his duty as the MACC chief commissioner to fight against corruption first before attempting to protect “national image”.
‘Azam should resign’
Meanwhile, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang called for Azam’s resignation.
“Malaysia needs a new MACC chief commissioner who has two important KPIs (key performance indicators).
“First, to ensure that Malaysia will not continue to fall in the TI-CPI but will improve from the 62nd position in the TI-CPI 2021 if not achieving 30th position in the NIP (National Integrity Plan).
“Secondly, to ensure that China and Indonesia do not overtake Malaysia in TI-CPI whether before the end of this decade or before Malaysia’s Centennial,” he said in a statement today.
The Iskandar Puteri MP questioned if Azam’s criticism meant that the MACC no longer supported the NIP target for Malaysia to be among the top 30 countries in the world in public integrity with the least corruption.
“The tragedy in the country’s anti-corruption campaign is that the MACC chief commissioner does not inspire Malaysians with confidence that he is the very symbol of public integrity, especially with his refusal to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee to clear himself of conflict-of-interest and integrity allegations in the Azam-gate affair,” he said.
The Azam-gate affair refers to the MACC chief commissioner’s ownership of 1,930,000 shares in Gets Global Berhad (previously KBES Berhad) on April 30, 2015, worth around RM772,000 at the time.
His shareholding in Gets Global Berhad went down to 1,029,500 as of March 31, 2016, worth around RM340,000 at the time.
He also held 2,156,000 warrants in Excel Force MSC Berhad in March 2016.
The share ownership in 2015 and 2016 had raised questions on whether it was commensurate with his income as a public servant and conflict of interest concerns.
Azam claimed the shares were not his but purchased by his brother in his name, prompting the Security Commission to also get involved over the possible misuse of his trading account. - Mkini
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