Anwar didn’t act against Azmin despite advice

The New Straits Times claims that there was no record of any instructions to act against Azmin Ali.

(Free Malaysia Today) – Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim did not take any action against Azmin Ali despite strong recommendations made by the Anti-Corruption Agency (now called the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission).

English daily New Straits Times claimed a check with the Public Service Department (PSD) and Finance Ministry showed no record of any instruction to penalise the PKR deputy president existed.

Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin earlier this week claimed to have obtained Azmin’s investigation files from then ACA.

The files showed the Gombak MP and his wife had amassed wealth amounting to RM30 million when he was the private secretary to Anwar who was then the deputy prime minister in the late 1990s.

Anwar was said to have instructed then ACA director-general Shafee Yahya to stop investigations, but the latter denied the allegation and said he had recommended disciplinary action against Azmin.

The recommendations came after the anti-graft watchdog claimed to have insufficient evidence to prosecute Azmin after an exhaustive two-year probe that began in 1995.

“The News Straits Times checked with the PSD and cross-checked with the Finance Minister to see if Anwar had acted on the recommendation but no such record existed,” wrote the government-linked newspaper.

It quoted MACC deputy Mohd Shukri Abdull as saying that if a recommendation for action against a public officer was made to his superior, an in-house probe would be set in motion.

But he said no records were found to indicate Shafee had recommended to Anwar to take action against Azmin but the former ACA chief said the instruction was not minuted.

The MACC said yesterday that it will reopen the 17-year-old case in light of fresh evidence raised against Azmin and will likely call him and Anwar for questioning.