JOHOR BARU, Feb 17 — Johor PKR lawmaker Hassan Abdul Karim today expressed his support that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is investigating individuals named in the Pandora Papers that are related to issues of corruption, abuse of power and embezzlement.
He said the move was among the reasons he supports the unity government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, despite his criticisms of his administration on certain issues.
“There is the name of a former prime minister, former deputy prime minister and also several former finance ministers. In fact, there is also a name of a state governor, together with former chief ministers, a former prime minister’s son and many others,” he said in a statement.
The veteran political activist was commenting on the ongoing investigations in relation to the two-year-old Pandora Papers scandal that not only involves the MACC, but other agencies such as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and the police.
Hassan said the anti-graft commission cannot be selective in its probe into the Pandora Papers scandal as the names of those involved have been made public.
However, Hassan said that the names listed in the Pandora Papers are not necessarily true as the status of the documents is still considered hearsay.
He said in the court of law, the contents in the Pandora Papers need to be proven, failing which means the publisher has committed slander. So, MACC’s role is to also clear the names of the Malaysians listed in the Pandora Papers by immediately investigating the issue and announcing their initial findings.
“If there are dubious acts involved and there are properties abroad to avoid from paying taxes, then the case must be immediately brought to court,” he said.
Yesterday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman said that the MACC is conducting an investigation on some individuals named in the Pandora Papers.
The Pandora Papers — an investigation report involving some 600 journalists from media including The Washington Post, the BBC and The Guardian — was released in October 2021, and is based on document leaks from 14 financial services companies worldwide.
Two Malaysians were among the 336 global politicians alleged in the report to be using offshore companies to hide ill-gained wealth.
A Malaysian investigation was announced on October 25, 2021 by former de facto law minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who said that the authorities would need time to investigate as the supposed criminal activities took place around 10 years ago.
