KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — PKR today again explained the sacking of two party members but with full details this time on their role in alleged corruption, also saying that it was the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that had recommended disciplinary action against them.
PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil noted that the MACC had on October 23 sent a letter and report on the complete findings of its investigation on former Works Minister political secretary and then PKR Bera division leader Zakaria Abdul Hamid and then member Ismail Dulhadi, with the correspondence sent to the PKR disciplinary board chairman Datuk Ahmad Kassim.
Fahmi said the MACC had carried out the investigations following a complaint lodged by PKR Youth secretary Syukri Razab on September 25, 2018 that alleged that both Zakaria and Ismail had met with branch leaders under the PKR Bera division.
“MACC had found that Zakaria had told those who attended that meeting about the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s RM300,000 allocation and asked each branch member to prepare paperwork for small projects worth RM20,000. He also told those who attended to take a profit of RM2,000 to RM3,000 for each project.
“Ismail was found to have submitted a list of contractors’ names composed of those who attended to the Bera district council. When investigated by MACC, the Bera district council’s officer admitted that the list presented by Ismail had influenced the officer during the contractor selection,” Fahmi said in a statement today.
Fahmi said that the MACC had found that both Zakaria’s actions in asking the PKR branch leaders to make personal profits from the projects and Ismail’s actions in giving the list of contractors’ names to be wrong.
“In the end, taking into account public interest, the MACC deputy public prosecutor had memperakukan (recommended) that disciplinary action be taken by the party against those two individuals,” he said.
Fahmi said PKR disciplinary board chief Ahmad had then relayed these facts to the PKR Central Leadership Council (MPP) on November 24 with a proposal for the two to be disciplined via sacking.
“After considering all facts, findings and results of the in-depth investigation by the MACC and the stern recommendation from the MACC deputy public prosecutor, the MPP decided to agree with the Disciplinary Board’s recommendation to sack those two individuals,” Fahmi said, reaffirming PKR’s resolution to fully reject corrupt practices in line with the government commitment under Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who envisions a corruption-free country.
Fahmi’s statement comes after Friday’s memorandum of protest against Zakaria’s sacking that was allegedly signed by Zakaria personally, PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and 18 other PKR leaders believed to be aligned with Azmin.
The memorandum had demanded for PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s apology over the sacking, with Azmin and the others alleging that Zakaria’s removal was not backed by the majority of the PKR central leadership council.
Anwar was yesterday reported as declining to apologise for Zakaria’s sacking.
Zakaria yesterday claimed to have been wrongfully sacked from PKR without being heard first and also that the MACC had allegedly confirmed that he would not be prosecuted over the corruption allegations.
A video clip of a news programme by broadcaster Buletin TV3 on November 25 on video-sharing site Youtube had showed MACC deputy chief Datuk Seri Azam Baki as having said that the deputy public prosecutor had decided that there would be no prosecution in the case that had been probed.
The MACC previously said that the notification letter to PKR over the sacked duo’s corruption investigation was an error as it had no policy to inform political parties of such matters.
