KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) would be nothing short of “incompetent” if it is only starting to probe Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Inc’s controversial purchase of a Melbourne apartment despite receiving a tip off on the case in March, Lim Kit Siang said today.
The senior DAP leader said the anti-graft agency’s slow response to the case leaves it open to accusations of “gross incompetence and inefficiency”.
“It still have to sent an officer to Melbourne to investigate MARA Inc property corruption as if fresh from scratch after the publication of The Age expose on Tuesday,” the Gelang Patah MP said, adding that the MACC’s handling of the case is a “great disappointment”.
Yesterday, MACC’s Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull said that the agency had started investigations on MARA Inc’s Melbourne purchase since March this year, denying Lim’s earlier claim that the probe dates back to December 2014.
Earlier this week, Australian daily The Age reported that a senior MARA official and two “elite” Malay businessmen were involved in corruption related to the Malaysian government agency’s A$22.5 million (RM65.3 million) purchase of Dudley House in Melbourne.
According to The Age, an eight month-long investigation by Fairfax Media, its parent publishing house, revealed that this group of “super-rich Malaysian officials” had spent government investment funds to push up the price of the student housing block that was built for A$17.8 million, but inflated by A$4.75 million to A$22.5 million.
The Australian police reportedly raided a house on Thursday in Vermont South, Melbourne and seized computers and files in a corruption and money-laundering investigation on the Dudley House deal.
They were also believed to target several other properties across Melbourne
