KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 ― Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) deputy chief commissioner (prevention) Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali will be transferred to the Immigration Department and is due to start Monday as Immigration director-general.
Mustafar's new appointment comes even as the anti-graft agency's head, Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed, will step down as chief commissioner on Monday as well.
“Starting Monday 1 August 2016, I've been tasked with the responsibility as director-general of the Immigration Department of Malaysia,” Mustafar reportedly said in a text message to a person, who then shared it in a WhatsApp group.
Malay Mail Online has not been able to reach Mustafar for comment.
Another source told Malay Mail Online that Mustafar will receive his appointment papers from the chief secretary to the government this afternoon.
Banners announcing the farewell ceremonies of Mustafar and MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Shukri Abdull scheduled today along with MACC chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed’s have been pictured outside the Putrajaya headquarters.
Abu Kassim's official farewell is scheduled to take place right now at the MACC office in Putrajaya.
The apparent departures of Mustafar and Shukri have yet to be formally announced.
Uncertainty over the future of the senior MACC officials comes as Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) senior official Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad is touted to replace Abu Kassim, whose six-and-a-half-year tenure as head of the anti-graft agency saw investigations of a company linked to state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the RM2.6 billion transfer to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's accounts.
The 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 Najib of wrongdoing over the RM2.6 billion.
