KUALA LUMPUR – Following the nabbing of a political secretary – with RM2mil stashed at an apartment he was staying at near Butterworth – the attention now would surely turn to the senior minister he is working for.
Several clues point to the suspect being Hasbie Sattar, the political secretary to Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Nor Mohamed Yakcop, who is in charge of the Economic Planning Unit.
The fourth floor unit of the Sri Molek apartment was said to have been rented by the minister’s election team weeks before the March 8, 2008 general election and later used as a transit home for the minister’s staff.
The apartment is located at Teluk Air Tawar, on the fringes of the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary constituency, where Nor is the MP.
Besides the money – stacked in bundles of RM5, RM10, RM50 and RM100 – anti-graft officers who raided the place also seized a 4WD vehicle registered under the name of a Pulau Tikus-based company and a BMW registered in the name of a person from Sarawak.
Coincidentally, Hasbie is a Sarawakian.
Pol sec since Abdullah's tenure as PM
He was appointed Nor’s political secretary during Abdullah’s tenure as PM and followed him to the Prime Minister’s Department after Najib took over the helm of the country in April last year.
Two months ago, there were speculative reports that the political secretary was under the scrutiny of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for corruption and abuse of power.
He had reportedly a ‘substantial but unaccountable assets’ in his possession, which include luxury cars and homes.
The MACC, at that time, had reportedly obtained an order to freeze several of the properties as well as his bank accounts to facilitate investigations under the Anti Money Laundering Act.
It was also said to be focusing on alleged kickbacks received from the approval of several multi-million ringgit projects.
It is believed several of the properties seized were under the names of people believed to be proxies for the political secretary, and investigators are expected to question people whose names are registered as owners.
At this moment, there is neither talk nor reports that Nor too is being investigated. No doubt, however, there would be quarters also calling for a probe into the minister.
Prior to winning the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seat, he was a Senator and the Finance Minister II under the administration of former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
In such position, one could imagine how close the minister was at the pulse point of approving projects and numerous fund allocations.
One can also imagine that current Finance Minister I and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is in a precarious situation now about whether or not to retain Nor in the EPU or take some credible steps to clean any mess that could possibly surface arising from the arrest of the political secretary.
Pledge to wipe out graft
Abdullah, in his time, had said he wanted to wipe out corruption from among Malaysians and went on to give more ‘teeth’ to anti-corruption officers by setting up the MACC. This also paved the way for Najib to continue with the job – which has already borne some fruits and, along the way, some controversies.
While most Malaysians want to see the MACC doing its job without fear, favour and prejudice, there had been question marks about its mode of investigations and Najib has ordered a royal commission of inquiry into the matter following the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.
By now, most people already know that Teoh had been questioned by MACC officers before he was found dead on July 16 at the fifth floor of a Shah Alam building, The Plaza Masalam building houses the Selangor’s MACC’s office on the 14th floor.
In the Teluk Air Tawar case, it is learnt that the MACC officers had grilled the suspect, together with two service staff, for five hours into how the RM2mil had been accumulated and kept at the apartment.
If the probe provides strong evidence that there is ‘hanky panky ‘ within the PM’s Department and Najib shows his courage to throw the book at the culprits – no matter what their positions are – it would surely boost his image as being a prime minister earnestly intent to wipe out all shades of graft in his administration.
The tiger has struck
In the decades of being an independent nation, there had been consistent calls by the rakyat for corrupt leaders - political, corporate and others – to be weeded out so that integrity remains intact among Malaysians.
Ironically, the political secretary’s case had come at the start of the Year of the Tiger. The beast has struck and continues to prowl. How many victims will it maul and prey upon? – Malaysian Mirror
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