GOVT TO PROBE AGENCIES FOR GRAFT
Roles of A-G, ex-IGP, EC and MACC to be scrutinised, says PM
THE government will investigate certain agencies for corruption, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said. Those found to be corrupt would be dealt with accordingly, he said, adding that he would look into the roles of Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, former inspector-general of police, the Election Commission (EC) as well as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“Our intention is to go after people who have shown a tendency to be corrupt or who have committed corrupt acts,” he said at a press conference yesterday after a Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting.
Dr Mahathir said the A-G had undermined his own credibility by hiding evidence of wrongdoings.
“That is wrong in law,” he said. Dr Mahathir said the government would also study whether MACC had acted fairly.
“If we find that they are biased or in favour of any group, including ourselves, we will have to change them,” he said, adding that new heads of government agencies would be vetted by Parliament.
He said MACC’s lack of transparency could be seen during the 14th General Election.
“MACC seems to ignore the fact that corruption was rife.
“We have pictures showing that people were involved in corruption.
“For example, in the last two days, there was no speeches made, but instead money was distributed.
“We will properly investigate all these things.”
Dr Mahathir said he would also investigate EC to determine if the commission had been biased.
He said in some states, there were issues in forming the state government.
He noted what happened in Sabah, where there were cases of politicians crossing over to another party.
He said these politicians were bought over.
“You can have people crossing over if they like because of principles, but if they are bought over, it is not recognised as a proper change of party.
“We will investigate this and when we find elements of corruption, the election will be invalidated,” he said.
He said Pakatan Harapan government wanted to control or reduce corruption to the minimum level, because it was aware that it was not possible to completely erase corruption.
He said political corruption had affected the democratic process.
“Elections should be free and clean.
“We find that this election is not clean at all — constituencies and boundaries were changed.
“All these things are worse than gerrymandering,” he said.
He added that all these things would be studied, and possibly the original boundaries of constituencies reinstated.
Dr Mahathir said it was not about revenge and that any action taken against agency heads would be done in accordance with the laws of the country.
Our intention is to go after people who have shown a tendency to be corrupt or who have committed known corrupt acts. TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD
Prime minister