‘Better image for MACC’
Proposal to give anti-graft body more autonomy
Excerpts :KUALA LUMPUR: Troubled by the public’s negative perception of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board has made two recommendations to turn it into a more credible institution.
One is that the Federal Constitution be amended to pave the way for the creation of an Anti-Corruption Service Commission for the appointment, confirmation and promotion of members of the anti-graft body.
The other is for the top graftbuster to be accorded a position equivalent to the inspector-general of police.
The board said that the the Anti-Corruption Service Commission would give the MACC more autonomy as well as empower it to acquire and manage its human resources more efficiently.
The board, chaired by former chief justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad, said despite a credible performance last year, the MACC’s biggest challenge was to rectify the negative perception the public had against it.
"The long-term goal should be to make the MACC one of the leading anti-corruption bodies in the world and for Malaysia to be seen as a corruption-free country," it said.
"Unless the MACC is provided with adequate budget and competent staff, it will not be able to fulfil the great expectations and attain the high goals that have been set for it, that is as the second National Key Results Area and raise the country's ranking in the Transparency International corruption perception index," it said.
Great propaganda by MACC this time. Another excuse to us that they cannot do their job well. Only last week they drop their appeal to prosecute the DG of Tourism . MACC's legal and prosecution division director Datuk Abdul Razak Musa said the prosecution had reviewed the appeal and decided to withdraw it, saying “We found that the evidence of the witnesses was not sufficient although in reality, Datuk Mirza underwent the treatment and the bill was paid by a witness”. The case was lost on simply the prosecution's case was weak and guilt couldn't be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Even a layman following the case would judge the DG guilty but the courts rule and judge by evidence - circumstantial evidence will not convict.
It'd be interesting to see this coming 2 weeks whether MACC will have a case against our PM Najib for his infamous "let's make a deal " speech while campaigning in Sibu. Read my blog at http://bennyleemn.blogspot.com/2010/05/najib-deal-or-no-deal-campaign-speech.html
On the eve of the by-election, Najib'd announced an allocation of RM5 million for flood-mitigation projects in Rejang Park provided the BN candidate was elected. He said “If Robert Lau becomes the MP on Sunday, on Monday I will ask [for] the cheque to be prepared. ..... I want to make a deal with you...can we have an understanding or not......Do we have a deal or not ?... You want the RM5 million, I want Robert Lau to win”.
The Election commission had reviewed it and decided that there could be a violation against the Election Act and has now pass the buck to MACC. MACC had immediately responded and said they will investigate and if there is indeed a case of corruption it will pass the baton to the Attorney General to prosecute as quoted by MACC investigation director Mustafar Ali: "After investigations, whether or not there is a case... depends on the Attorney-General's office."
Even before MACC had commenced their investigations, we are already hearing statements from UMNO’s legal counsel Datuk Harun defending Najib’s actions and claimed that the prime minister had not broken the law. He said , "This promise is nothing but politics of development, that Umno and Barisan Nasional is bringing development to the people. If you look at Section 10 in Election Offences Act, [it] states that bribery only applies to all of us as individuals, but not the government,” . He argued the Act only referred to a “natural person,” and therefore, Najib was not guilty as he was speaking on behalf of the government. “So this is the problem, the law only recognises [individuals] but not the government,” Harun said. WOW !! - this is really legal lingo to me - I already sense and smell a "no case and irrelevant claim to pursue " judgement to prosecute by the AG.
So PR and DAP supremos should review their position and be prepare to lose just based on technicality.
I am just a layman but after watching the video , I consider Najib's statements as a clear case of blatant bribery and vote buying but who am I to judge this ? DAP's Karpal Singh had strongly pursue this and said that the PM had violated Section 10(a) of the Election Offences Act.
Yesterday , MACC's Investigation Director Mustafar Ali said that the MACC may consider calling Najib in for investigation. “Not at the moment, but if need be of course we will call whoever [was relevant] to testify,” he said and most interesting further added " MACC is colour blind. We are really colour blind so we will take action whenever we receive information. After [an] investigation, whether or not there is a case... depends on the Attorney-General’s office "
I don't understand , why Mustafar said "may consider calling Najib" - is MACC just going to investigate just based on 3rd party evidence or they can just accept the video ?
MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed had told reporters at a press conference in Petaling Jaya that the anti-graft body has received complaints about the PM's campaign speech and is investigating the incident. "All complaints about money politics will be investigated by the commission. It is our responsibility, we have to investigate, as long as there is a complaint,” he said.
However, Abu Kassim declined to furnish any more details and told reporters to get more information from the investigation director Mustafar Ali - another case of passing the buck ???
Is this going to be a test case for MACC ?? Are they in trouble now that they have a very tough case on hand to investigate ? No matter how independent they are, the PM is till their "boss" . Will they just toe the line and just give us another " wayang show" ? One thing is sure - all the hawk eyes of Pakatan Rakyat will be pursuing them.
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