KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Anti-Corruption Advisory Board (LPPR) chairman Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang Abu Zahar today said that it has cleared Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Azam Baki of any wrongdoing over his purchase of corporate shares.
Abu Zahar said the board had conducted a special meeting with Azam and found that that there was no foul play involving the ownership of shares.
The meeting had taken place on November 24 last year and involved all LLPR representatives.
“LPPR Is satisfied with the explanation that was given and found that there was no criminal activity or conflict of interest in the matter,” he said in a press conference at the MACC headquarters today.
Abu Zahar said that during the meeting, Azam had explained how he had allowed his younger brother — Nasir Baki — to use his trading account to purchase the shares in 2015.
“Anyways, all the shares have been transferred back to Nasir Baki in the same year,” he said.
Abu Zahar added that after the meeting the board concluded that Azam did not have not have any “pecuniary interests” or benefits from the buying or ownership of the shares, nor was there any conflict of interest in the issue.
Regarding allegations from former MACC Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel member Edmund Terrence Gomez — that Abu Zahar and the LPPR failed to conduct a meeting to investigate the issue despite multiple prompts — Abu Zahar vehemently denied receiving any such official notice from Gomez.
He also said that if there is such an official notice then a copy should be given to the MACC as proof.
“At the same time (after the November 24 meeting), LPPR proposed to inform the public in a given time, but unfortunately this issue was already played up by Gomez, which shocked me.
“As a learned man and a member of a panel, surely he (Gomez) knows the structure and responsibilities of all five free panels in observing the administration of MACC,” he said.
He also suggested that Gomez can head to the LPPR or the complaint committee of the MACC if he was still unsatisfied.
This comes after Gomez, a political economy professor, resigned from MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel on December 28, in protest of the organisation’s supposed inaction against allegations of Azam’s ownership of the publicly traded stocks.
It is also important to note that despite Abu Zahar saying that he did not receive any notice from Gomez, local news organisation The Vibes reported on Sunday that it had sighted emails to the effect.
