GEORGE TOWN, June 29 — Datuk Paul Low has denied that the recent criticised move to transfer Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) chief executive officer Nor Afizah Hanum Mokhtar back to the Attorney-General’s Chambers had come from him.

The minister in charge of corruption and integrity told The Malay Mail Online yesterday that while he oversees the EAIC, he has no authority to appoint or remove any of its personnel.

Low (picture) stressed, however, that the embattled agency is currently undergoing a stringent revamp of its setup and apart from its lack of disciplinary and prosecution powers, the lack of competent personnel had been one of the EAIC’s more glaring weaknesses.

“I must make it clear that EAIC is an independent body,” he said in an email response to questions from The Malay Mail Online.

“As a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, I am only overseeing EAIC and have no authority to appoint or remove any of its personnel.”

The former Transparency-International Malaysia (TI-M) president added that at present no replacement has been announced for Nor Afizah Hanum’s vacant post.

“The directive will eventually come from the (EAIC) commissioners,” he said.

Earlier this week, the government’s legal affairs department announced that Nor Afizah Hanum will head back to the A-G’s Chambers effective Monday.

Her transfer was listed on the A-G’s Chambers website under a promotion/transfer order list of management and professional officers for July 2013.

An A-G’s Chambers official, who did not want to be named for fear of losing her job, told The Malay Mail Online that Nor Afizah Hanum would be joining the A-G’s Chambers pool from July 1.

“No reasons for the transfer were given, nor exactly which department she will be transferred to,” said the official.

The Malay Mail Online also contacted Nor Afizah Hanum, but she declined to confirm her transfer.

“I decline to comment,” she had said.

The A-G’s Chambers official also rubbished rumours that the transfer was due to the plain-speaking EAIC chief’s recent public disclosure of the commission’s shortcomings.

A former Sessions Court judge, Nor Afizah Hanum had been seconded as secretary to the EAIC that is seen by many to be a poor substitute of the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), mooted by a royal commission led by former Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah to implement sweeping reform in the police force that had drawn great public ire following a spike in custodial deaths.

Explaining the EAIC’s weaknesses, Low said it was largely because the agency had faced great difficulty in hiring experienced and suitably trained personnel in 2009 when it was first being set up.

But he gave an assurance that the government was determined to set these flaws right in its ongoing plan for a complete revamp of the two-year-old agency.

“The government is aware of the urgent need to put things right and this revamp is one of the ways to do it,” he said.

“The full revamp of the EAIC will include the delegation of disciplinary powers, building up of its manpower especially investigators and having full-time commissioners,” he added.

Low said commission will also be taking a more proactive stance to investigate cases that are of public interest and more resources will be made available to the commission.

“The EAIC will also initiate independent review of standard operating procedures (SOP) or practices of agencies to assess their effectiveness and to push for changes to be adopted where required,” he said.

The commission, mooted in response to the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission of Inquiry’s (RCI) recommendations to set up a proposed IPCMC, has been labelled as a “toothless tiger” by opposition leaders due to its lack of persecution powers.

Civil society groups, politicians from both sides of the divide and the Bar Council have been calling for the IPCMC to be set up to replace the EAIC following more controversial custodial deaths, nine in the past five months, coming to light.

Leaders such as Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim and Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari had called for the IPCMC to be given authority to take action against officers found guilty in custodial death cases and also the authority to recommend promotions for officers in the police force.

As for custodial deaths, Low pointed out that the government has already started taking further preventive measures through the establishment of centralised lock-up centres that will be better managed.

“The government has also taken steps to establish specialised coroner courts to inquire into reported deaths including custodial deaths and the police force, through its own initiative, is already improving its SOP to include best practices,” he added.

Last month, Indah Water employee N. Dhamendran was found dead while in police custody and a post-mortem report revealed that he was beaten to death.

Early this month, security guard P. Karunanithi was also found dead while in police custody and a post-mortem report revealed that he had 49 bruises on his body.

There were a total 231 reported custodial deaths between 2000 and May 2013 but Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently said in Parliament that a majority of these cases, 196 to be exact, were due to various types of illnesses.