Is Azam Baki Taking A Leaf From Najib S Playbook

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The MACC must seem like a house of cards. Last month, three MACC officers were arrested for a gang robbery case involving losses of RM700,000.
This month alone there were two scandals: One involving a senior MACC enforcer for allegedly misappropriating RM25 million in cash, the other involving the MACC chief himself, Azam Baki.
These scandals could either mean that things are going well as the MACC house is being cleaned of its inglorious officers, or it could mean that things are going very badly with corruption reigning at Malaysia’s foremost anti-corruption agency. Either way, MACC’s reputation is at stake.
It is no wonder, therefore, that when the scandal involved him personally that Azam Baki had to use a politician’s playbook, particularly Najib’s in 1MDB. 
I found three tactics reminiscing of the old playbook: How to defend yourself, how to silence others, and how to stay on.
How to defend yourself
It remains an irrefutable fact that the purchase of Gets Global Bhd shares in 2015 was made under the name of Azam Baki. In his “tell-all” press conference, Azam explained that his brother, Nasir Baki, was the one who used Azam’s account to buy the related shares, and Azam does not have any interest in the purchase or ownership of the share. This was meant to show that the beneficiary of the shares was Nasir, and not Azam.
By admitting to this, Azam opened a new can of worms for potentially violating rules against proxy trading under Section 25 of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act 1991, nor does it negate the potential violation of Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993 of purchasing company shares above 5% of paid capital or more than RM100,000. This does not even consider a general conflict of interest or moral integrity concerns.
This pattern of defence, moreover, is reminiscent of Najib’s defence in the SRC case. The irrefutable fact was that RM42 million flowed from the Finance Ministry-owned SRC International Sdn Bhd into Najib’s personal bank accounts. 
Najib’s defence was that he thought the money he was spending was donations from King Abdullah of Saudi, to which the High Court consider as “nothing but an implausible concoction”, and the Court of Appeal panel called it a “tale that surpassed even those from the Arabian nights” that was “bereft of any credibility”.
The general principle is that you must know what happens to your account, especially when it involves a large sum, a potentially violative action, and your name is synonymous with public duty.
How to silence others
Two days after his press conference, Azam sued the whistleblower, Lalitha Kunaratnam for alleged defamation, to which an apology, removal of alleged articles, and RM10 million were demanded.
By now we would know that defamation suits of this nature are designed to be intimidation and nothing more. It almost does not matter if there is a reasonable prospect of success nor whether Azam suffered reputational loss as alleged.
The existence of a lawsuit with an exaggerated sum, designed to be running for years, against a significantly less powerful individual is a tactic to silence present and future critics.
During the height of 1MDB, Najib similarly launched multiple defamation lawsuits, with the similar purpose of taking down critics. Among others, he sued Tony Pua, Ling Liong Sik, and Harakah for various publications relating to how Najib handled 1MDB funds.
To prove my point, Najib eventually withdrew these defamation suits, for unstated reasons, when he lost power in 2018. The bitter truth is that these suits function as pure intimidation weapons, typically at the disposal of the powerful against the weak.
How to stay on
There must be a deep and visceral fear in Azam that MACC would go down under his watch; especially worse if it happens with a case directly involving him. After being a career investigator for nearly 40 years, at a place where he worked since he was 21 years old, how could he be deemed to be the alleged villain he has sworn to catch?
It was not worth it to go down in a scandal less serious than most corruption cases out there, for a sum significantly lesser than his fallen officers; definitely not close to the scale of 1MDB. This may have motivated Azam to ignore claims of integrity and conflict of interest, or any actual violation of legislation(s) and regulation(s), and choosing to stay on, without even a consideration of leave.
“I’m okay, still working and not on leave,” he said. “I will fight.”
Three of his deputies have issued a statement in full support of Azam, showcasing reactions typical of a political drama than a public institution. 
By applying a politician’s playbook one by one, Azam starts to become unrecognizable – even to himself. - Mkini
JAMES CHAI is a political analyst. He also blogs at www.jameschai.com.my and he can be reached at [email protected].
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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