Kulasegaran says Azam Baki’s shareholding disclosed to authorities, no rules capping investments for civil servants

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department M. Kulasegaran has assured that shareholding involving Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Azam Baki was reported to the Cabinet and relevant government authorities.

He said that although Bloomberg had published allegations, the matter should be assessed based on law and due process.

“We must understand that nobody is above the law in Malaysia, nobody, and this includes the MACC chief.

“The news report on Bloomberg, that is their view, because I’ve also read it and that is why the MACC chief came out with a statement to explain; he didn’t deny it,” Kulasegaran told Parliament during his winding-up speech on the motion of thanks for the Royal Address today.

On Azam’s investment rights, Kulasegaran said he found no investigation or regulation that sets any limit on such investments. 

“We must only take cognisance if there is a law of such, but if based on Bloomberg, I checked and I cannot verify — there is no concrete requirement on government servants whereby there is a limit set on investments.

“But is this informed to the relevant government authorities? I understand that this matter has been made known to the relevant authorities from the day the investment was made so that question does not arise now,” he said.

He was responding to PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim, who asked if the government has launched any investigation on the MACC chief as it has done on previous high-profile cases involving even the late Tun Daim Zainuddin.

“So we need to understand, the Pasir Gudang MP said there is investigation on even former generals, why this hasn’t been done on the MACC chief, we must take the legal jargon of innocent until proven guilty.

“We must be very clear, just because of one accusation on one online news site, we all don’t just jump on the issue. This needs investigation, and the decision should be made by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.

“I understand a decision will be made soon and we will be told, but it does not mean that we are running away from our responsibilities, we cannot be spokesmen for Bloomberg, if Bloomberg say ‘ABC’ needs proper investigation, we need to verify this following the law,” he added.

Earlier today, the MACC chief had defended his former shareholding in Velocity Capital Bhd, saying the transaction was fully transparent and properly declared.

According to the New Straits Times, Azam said he had nothing to hide regarding the RM800,000 stake, which he reported through the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) to the Public Service Department.