Malaysia’s king warns graft agency among those on his ‘radar’

[KUALA LUMPUR] The Malaysian king said the country’s anti-corruption commission is one of the institutions that is on his “radar”, as he urged governing authorities to step up the fight against graft.

“Be careful, those in the Royal Malaysia Police, Immigration Department, Royal Malaysian Customs Department and many more,” Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor, the current monarch, said in a statement posted on his official Facebook and Instagram accounts.

“The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is also not left out,” the king wrote. The title of his statement was “Mission to fight corruption: More on the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong’s radar”.

Yang Di-Pertuan Agong is the official title of the king in Malay.

A representative of the Royal Press Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office also did not respond to a request for comment.

Representatives from the anti-graft agency, the police, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The statement comes after two reports by Bloomberg News last week about the anti-graft agency, better known as the MACC, which caused an outcry in the country – sparking protests in the capital and igniting a debate about abuse of power.

One report covered chief commissioner Azam Baki’s shareholdings. The other alleged collusion between MACC officers and that businessmen were trying to take over companies.

Azam has denied he did anything wrong with his shareholdings and called Bloomberg’s reporting malicious and misleading. A police investigation has been opened into the shareholding report, local media said.

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“MACC rejects any suggestion that its investigations are influenced by private interests,” a spokesperson for the agency said in an e-mail to Bloomberg in response to questions for the collusion article.

“All investigations are conducted in accordance with the law, guided by evidence and subject to prosecutorial discretion and judicial oversight.” 

On Friday, Malaysia’s Cabinet ordered a probe into Azam’s shareholdings that will be carried out by a special committee led by Attorney-General Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar.

Azam said in a statement before the announcement of the probe that he was open to being fully investigated and had nothing to hide.

On Sunday, crowds of black-clad protesters marched in Kuala Lumpur calling for him to step down. Hundreds of mainly youths waved black flags and placards as they assembled outside a shopping mall in the heart of the capital, with a major road temporarily shut to accommodate the demonstration.

Efforts to fight corruption cannot be cosmetic or just rhetoric, the king said in his social media posts.

“If there are officers who are unable to carry out their responsibilities honestly, give the opportunities to those who are more qualified and clean to carry out those responsibilities,” he said, without mentioning anyone by name. BLOOMBERG