The Malaysian Insight

THE Parliamentary Select Committee on Agencies should proceed with its meeting tomorrow regardless of whether MACC chief Azam Baki attends, four opposition lawmakers said today.

They said Azam, who is embroiled in a share ownership scandal, does not have the power to override parliament.

“Even if Azam Baki doesn’t show up, the meeting should still go on.

“Why did we postpone the meeting just because of his three reasons? We should insist that he comes. If he refuses, then we take action,” Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong said in a press conference.

Khoo said the committee should not have cancelled the meeting on Azam’s account.

Azam was told on January 10 to attend the meeting set for January 19. Yesterday the committee chairman Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman announced the meeting was postponed indefinitely following a letter from Azam.

In his letter to Latiff, Azam said the hearing was in breach of the Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Orders.

The MACC chief also said he had filed a civil suit over allegations that had been made against him and that he was under investigation by other agencies.

Khoo today said the select committee should still convene tomorrow to discuss its next course of action with regard to the top anti-corruption officer.

“We have called Azam; we also want to discuss who else we want to call, including his brother.

“We also want to call other agencies, his superiors at the time. We want to listen to their explanation.

“In 2015, did Azam declare his shares? Who did he declare them to? What did (his superiors) do with the declaration? All this we want to find out.

“The Securities Commission says it wants to investigate, we want to call them too.

“We want to make sure that the investigation process won’t be affected by these latest developments,” Khoo said.

Apart from Khoo, Azis Jamman (Sepanggar-Warisan), and Pakatan Harapan MPs Chan Foong Hin (Kota Kinabalu) and William Leong (Selayang) also disagreed with Latiff’s decision to defer tomorrow’s meeting.

Khoo said Azam reasons for not attending the hearing also did not make sense.

“We don’t agree with his three reasons. The civil suit excuse cannot be accepted. In many cases investigated by the committee, there were those which involved civil suits and we still called them. There are no issues.”

Azam’s statement that the hearing contravene Standing Orders was also baseless, Khoo said.

“Standing Order 83(2) provides that a select committee shall have power to send persons, documents or papers, and shall have leave to report its opinion and observations, together with the minutes of evidence taken before it to the House.

“This gives the select committee the power to call individuals to appear (before the committee).”

With regard to Azam’s third reason for calling off the hearing, which was that he was under investigation by other agencies, Khoo said parliament had the power of oversight over all matters.

“All three of his reasons cannot be accepted. Azam only gave his personal opinion on why he cannot attend. That is just his excuse but it should not become a reason that is acceptable or override parliament. If he is called, he has to come and answer.”

Khoo said the right thing for Azam to do was attend the meeting and then give his reasons.

“Attend first. When we ask you questions, then you answer, even if you want to use the three excuses, not give excuses even before you appear before the committee. It is illogical and should not be done by the MACC chief.

“It will set a bad precedent for others called by the select committee or Public Accounts Committee.”

The committee was scheduled to discuss the issue of Azam’s shareholdings in two public-listed companies tomorrow.

Azam had previously revealed that he had allowed his brother to use his trading account to purchase shares.

According to Excel Force Bhd’s 2015 annual report, Azam owned 2,156,000 warrants in the company as of March 21, 2016. At the time, Azam was head of the MACC investigation division.

He is currently under investigation by the Securities Commission and the MACC Complaints Committee. – January 18, 2022.