‘Graft is public enemy No. 1’
Corruption a bigger problem for country than drugs, says MACC
KUALA LUMPUR: Corruption, not drugs, is the country’s “public enemy number 1”, says Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad.
“How can drugs be the number one enemy when it is corruption that allowed drugs to penetrate our borders,” he told reporters after launching the MACC’s anticorruption posters and painted messages on two train coaches at the Bank Rakyat Bangsar LRT station.
Dzulkifli said the MACC was firm in its stand despite the view of Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who thought drugs was a bigger menace.
“That is the (deputy) minister’s (Nur Jazlan) view and we have ours,” he said.
Despite enforcement and stringent drug laws, including the mandatory death penalty, Dzulkifli noted drug trafficking was still a problem.
“We are not only talking about drugs but eradicating corruption and abuse of power, which had been found in all sectors of society,” he said.
On a separate matter, Dzulkifli said the MACC was completing its investigations on former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad over the controversial purchase of hotels by Felda Investment Corporation (FIC).
Asked if Mohd Isa would be charged along with several others, Dzulkifli said this had yet to be finalised.
Mohd Isa, who was also FGV chairman, was arrested and remanded at the MACC’s headquarters on Aug 15. He is among the individuals hauled up by the MACC over FIC’s purchases of hotels in London and Kuching.
Separately, Dzulkfli added that several programmes, including a nationwide roadshow, would be held from this Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) – the MACC’s forerunner – on Oct 1.
He added that MACC’s new complex would also be unveiled in Precinct 7, Putrajaya, on that day.
Meanwhile, nine suspects were remanded in Pahang and Terengganu over graft allegations following an MACC crackdown on illegal logging.
Four men and a woman were remanded for six days by the magistrate’s court in Kuantan to facilitate investigations for turning a blind eye to illegal logging in Jerantut, Pahang.
The suspects were a Forestry Department officer, his wife, a ranger and two owners of a logging company.
The five, aged between 40 and 50, were arrested on Monday at their homes and at the Jerantut Forestry Department office.
In Kuala Terengganu, three logging company managers and a sawmill driver were remanded for five days.
The suspects, aged between 29 and 62, are believed to have offered bribes of between RM500 and RM1,000 to three Terengganu Forestry Department officers on three separate incidents between May 23 and Aug 28.
On Monday, The Star front-paged a report that the MACC was gathering evidence on illegal logging and would be making arrests soon.
It is learnt that these officers had collected tens of thousands of ringgit in monthly kickbacks to finance their lavish lifestyles.