PETALING JAYA: Academician Prof Dr Edmund Terence Gomez (pix) has resigned from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel.
In a letter to the panel’s chairperson Tan Sri Borhan Dolah dated yesterday (Dec 27), Gomez said that his resignation was in protest over the panel’s inaction with regards to allegations regarding MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.
“My reason for submitting this resignation is my grave concern that you, as chairman of the Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel, have not convened a meeting to discuss a critical issue of national interest that I had brought to your attention one month ago.
“This serious matter involves two reports by the Independent News Service published on 26 October 2021. These reports, among other things, raise disturbing questions about the “nexus between business and law enforcement” and a “conflict of interest” situation involving Tan Sri Azam Baki, including if he had declared his extensive ownership of corporate stock as required by law.
“I stressed that the information that I had received was deeply troubling as it was based on extensive research. The author of these news reports had also listed her name, indicating she was available to discuss this matter with the panel,” Gomez had written.
Besides Borhan, Gomez said he had also written to the MACC Anti-Corruption Advisory Board chairman Tan Sri Abu Zahar Nika Ujang on three separate occasions, but these also failed to elicit any response.
Gomez further noted that Azam has yet to issue any public statement nor had he responded to statements made by several MPs in Parliament on his business dealings that were made on December 14.
Gomez was previously appointed to the panel for a two-year term from June 1, 2020 to May 31 next year.
On December 14, Sungai Buloh MP Sivarasa Rasiah filed an urgent motion seeking the Dewan Rakyat to discuss Azam’s alleged ownership of close to two million shares in a publicly listed company.
Sivarasa claimed that Azam, as MACC’s investigation director between 2015 and 2016, became the owner of 930,000 shares in Gets Global Bhd as of April 30, 2015, and a further 1,029,000 shares as of March 31, 2016.
He also claimed Azam, as of March 21, 2016, also owned 2,156,000 warrants in publicly listed Excel Force MSC Bhd while the latter’s younger brother owned 3,728,000 shares in Gets Global.
