Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing should have been arrested for obstructing a public servant from executing his duties, said a retired top anti-graft officer.
Bahri Mohd Zin, who is a former director of MACC special operations division, said Tiong should have raised his suspicion about alleged graft involving Immigration Department officers with MACC instead of taking matters into his own hand.
"If I were the immigration officer, I would have issued a warning to the minister not to interfere with my duties.
"And I would issue the warning for a second time, and if for the third time, he still does not back down, then I would arrest him for obstructing a public servant in executing his duties," Bahri said.
He was commenting on the recent incident where Tiong (above) reportedly visited the Immigration Department office at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on June 28 to check on complaints from a Chinese national who was denied entry.
Tiong claimed the visitor's papers were in order and the tourist was a victim of corruption, which he wanted to expose. The Chinese national was eventually allowed entry following the minister's intervention.
The allegation had since received attention from the MACC, which will investigate the matter.
Bahri also called for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to take action against Tiong, whom he said has become a liability for the government.
"While the prime minister's effort to visit immigration counters (at KLIA) after the incident is commendable, he should also summon the said minister and query him about his actions.
"Ask him what procedures the immigration officers involved had violated in this case.
"If he wanted to help this particular tourist because procedures were allegedly breached, then how about other tourists who had also been denied entry?
"And if the immigration officers had asked for bribes, why did you not engage MACC first so that the alleged corrupt officers could be caught in action?" he asked.
Adding further, Bahri said the prime minister should also ask Tiong whether he had thought of negative implications for the government before he took matters into his own hands.
‘Brainless minister a liability’
"Such action by a brainless minister gives liability to the government itself.
"The prime minister should take action against the minister so the people will be confident that he does his job without fear or favour,” added Bahri.
Malaysiakini has reached Tiong's office for a response.
Bahri was one of the MACC’s top guns who played a critical role in moving an investigation against former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak in the infamous SRC International case.
His former division, which is called “Bahagian Operasi Khas” in Bahasa Malaysia, is tasked to investigate special cases involving more than RM1 million and sensitive cases involving public interests.
The division was said to have investigated SRC International, which was previously a subsidiary of 1MDB, particularly the RM42 million deposited into Najib's bank account.
When the police disrupted the MACC probe on SRC International in 2015, Bahri had vowed to "find the culprits responsible till kingdom come".
His officers, who were part of the investigating team, were picked up, their office ransacked and the commission’s deputy public prosecutor remanded by the police.
Bahri, along with another senior officer, Rohaizad Yaakob, were later transferred out of the MACC and placed at the Prime Minister's Department, much like former Special Branch deputy director Abdul Hamid Bador.
Both Bahri and Rohaizad were reinstated after Pakatan Harapan won the 2018 general election and formed the federal government. - Mkini
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