MACC says will gather info on DEIG before deciding if wrongdoing involved

(Malay Mail Online) – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said it will monitor Selangor’s Darul Ehsan Investment Group (DEIG) to determine if there is any corruption in the state government’s new investment arm.

MACC deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull (pic) told Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia that the anti-graft agency will be gathering information to first determine how DEIG will operate.

“We must know what DEIG is and what it does, because at the moment we do not know what kind of business it conducts. Let my officers gather information first, before any statement is made,” he was quoted saying.

“We will look into it, and whether or not the company has done anything wrong, we will see later, (sic)” Shukri added.

He said it was still too early to conclude on whether it would be an abuse of power for Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali to transfer assets from Mentri Besar Incorporated (MBI) to DEIG.

DEIG, the brainchild of Azmin, is set to be a new investment arm that will be absorbing the state’s assets under MBI, which Azmin claimed was “tainted” and that the move would lower the business risks borne by Selangor.

The proposal, however, was met with criticism at the recent Selangor state legislative assembly mainly because DEIG, as a company, would not be answerable to the state government, the way MBI is, under the MBI enactment.

DEIG has since been likened to controversial state investment arm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) by Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians, including Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong and the coalition’s strategic communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Following the criticisms, the state assembly called for details on the entity to be tabled at the next sitting of the assembly.