KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — In an open letter to Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan today, lawyer Datuk Param Cumaraswamy questioned the MACC chief commissioner about seeking an independent review of investigation papers over Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's report against top enforcement officials.
He expressed surprise over comments made by Ahmad Said in an interview with The Sunday Star last Sunday when he disclosed the then Anti-Corruption Agency had requested the Solicitor-General to appoint three independent persons under the Criminal Procedure Code to review the investigation papers. Two of them were former federal court judges.
"This revelation is most disturbing coming from you as chief commissioner of the newly established Anti-Corruption Commission," Param wrote in the letter, saying it warranted answers to some questions.
Among his questions was which CPC provision empowered the ACA to request for an independent review.
"I have searched the CPC and could not find any such provision. Was it an exercise undertaken extra legally to give a semblance of independence to the investigation?" the former UN special rapporteur for judges and lawyers said.
"Who were these independent persons? On what basis did you or the Solicitor-General evaluate their independence and impartiality? You said that two were former federal court judges. You appreciate that a few former federal court judges’ independence, impartiality, credibility and integrity were publicly called into question recently? That the three came to the conclusion that the allegation made by Anwar was ‘baseless’ is incredible."
He also asked why Anwar as the complainant was not informed about the progress of investigations or why there was an independent review of the investigations.
"Is not there some transparency and accountability (want of which often is the root cause of corruption in public administration) applied and practised in your agency? At least one would have expected complainants to be kept informed of progress in investigations of their complaints.
"I am writing this letter openly to you so that you could respond publicly to the questions. I was with Datuk Seri Anwar when his statement was recorded by your officers. If you decide not to respond publicly then at least you owe it to the complainant the answers to these questions.
"But I feel you owe it to the general public for the answers for the sake of public confidence building in the MACC. Both the complainant and the general public cannot rely on your simple personal ‘guarantee’ of impartial and credible investigations," Param concluded in his open letter.
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