Nov 24 Meeting On Azam Do Tell Says Terence Gomez

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Economist Edmund Terence Gomez resigned from a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission panel on Dec 27 after it failed to discuss reports implicating chief commissioner Azam Baki.PETALING JAYA: Members of an MACC advisory board have been asked to confirm if there was a meeting on Nov 24 at which the head of Malaysia’s anti-corruption commission, Azam Baki, was purportedly exonerated of allegations concerning a share purchase.
Board members should explain why they did not insist on an independent investigation into Azam’s share ownership, said economist Edmund Terence Gomez, who resigned in protest late last month over lack of action by the advisory board.
Six board members had said earlier today that board chairman Abu Zahar Ujang had given his personal view in clearing Azam of his corporate shareholding.
In response Gomez said it was not enough for the board members to merely distance themselves from Abu Zahar’s statement.
He called on the board members to confirm if the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board had indeed met on Nov 24 to discuss the allegations against Azam, as claimed by Abu Zahar.
“If a meeting was held on Nov 24, why was I not told of this when I discussed this matter with some board members in December? Why was I not told that Azam had been exonerated by the board members at this meeting?” he said in a statement this evening.
“The board members have confirmed that they do not have the authority to exonerate Azam of the allegations made against him. If they state this now, why then did they exonerate Azam at the meeting on Nov 24?”
The six board members who distanced themselves from Abu Zahar’s statement were Akhbar Satar, Ismail Omar, Azman Ujang, Hamzah Kassim, David Chua and Mohammad Agus Yusoff.
They said Abu Zahar’s views were his own and said that they had proposed the matter be referred to an independent committee, the parliamentary special committee on corruption, or the MACC’s Complaints Panel.
However, they said their views and proposals were not raised by Abu Zahar at a press conference on the matter. - FMT

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