KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad, a senior official with the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), is set to be the new Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner, a move that is bound to raise concerns about the independence of the agency.
Malay Mail Online understands that the AGC has promoted the civil service position of Dzulkifli, who is head of the National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team (NRRET) in the AGC, to the Jusa A Superscale in order to pave the way for his appointment as head of the anti-graft agency.
“If he’s not upgraded, he cannot jump,” a highly-placed source told Malay Mail Online today.
Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, who had led the commission for six and a half years, is relinquishing the top post on August 1, but will continue as an officer until his retirement in December 2020.
The scheduled appointment of Dzulkifli comes even as the MACC is currently working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigations on alleged money laundering linked to state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The MACC said last Friday that such cooperation existed before the US Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit last week to seize over US$1 billion (RM4 billion) in assets allegedly procured using funds stolen from 1MDB.
The beleaguered anti-graft agency previously suffered raids and arrests by the police in August last year amid its investigation on former 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International, and two of its directors were even briefly transferred out of the agency before public outrage led to their reinstatement.
Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali — who replaced Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail as Attorney-General in July last year, the same day 1MDB critics Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal were dropped from government in a Cabinet reshuffle — had cleared Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak of wrongdoing over the RM2.6 billion transfer, claiming the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family.
