KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — The Special Investigation Committee is expected to present the results of its investigation into Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Tan Sri Azam Baki’s stock ownership by this week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.

“The investigation led by the Attorney General (Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar) will be completed this week, within a few days. So, we will first look at the reasonableness and rationale for extending [the probe] and which areas need scrutiny,” he told Parliament this morning.

Regarding calls to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), Anwar said it is still too early to make a decision.

“Therefore, I am neither accepting nor rejecting (the establishment of an RCI). Let us follow the process. First, receive the report from the attorney general; the attorney general informed me it will be prepared within one or two days,” he said.

“Then, if there is a rationale to extend (the investigation), we will do so,” he said during the Minister’s Question Time.

Anwar was responding to a supplementary question from V. Ganabatirau (PH-Klang) regarding the specific and detailed actions expected from an RCI concerning the “corporate mafia” issue, including claims that Azam was aware of the group’s existence.  

Ganabatirau had asked about the investigation’s scope, legal powers, and investigative methods, as well as when the RCI would begin its probe.

The Anwar administration faces mounting public criticism for rejecting calls to put Azam on leave pending an investigation into his shareholdings, which reportedly exceeded the limit set for civil servants.

Bloomberg’s special investigative report revealed Azam’s shares in listed companies and also ran a story alleging that top MACC officers had colluded with a group of businessmen to take over certain targeted companies.

This was the second time Azam had been implicated for the same alleged violation. 

Both Azam and the MACC denied any wrongdoing.

Critics have alleged hypocrisy on Anwar’s part because he had also called for the MACC chief commissioner to be suspended when Azam was investigated for another shareholding fiasco in 2022.