Drop reins until Sarbani death probed, DAP tells MACC boss

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — The DAP has demanded Datuk Seri Abu Kassim Mohamed step aside as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief until investigations into the death of a Customs officer at the commission’s office here were complete, to avoid “an attempt to stop truth and justice.”

Secretary-general Lim Guan Eng described Abu Kassim’s call for Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed’s death in the MACC building in Cheras “not be exploited or manipulated by certain quarters for their personal interests” as “malicious and full of ill-intent.”

“Such provocative remarks display not only a guilty conscience but an attempt to gag and stop others from pursuing the truth and justice into the latest tragic death in the MACC. To describe (them) as exploiters and manipulators... is just irresponsible,” the Bagan MP said.

Lim added that the public would not have faith in MACC’s internal probe into this latest death as it has not fully explained or taken responsibility for the death of DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock.

Ahmad Sarbani’s death comes as a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) is investigating MACC operational procedures and the death of Teoh Beng Hock on July 16, 2009 after a coroner’s inquest returned an open verdict of neither suicide nor homicide.

The aide to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah was a witness whose body was found sprawled on the fifth floor corridor of the anti-graft body’s Selangor headquarters following overnight questioning there.

Today, Lim said while DAP respected Abu Kassim for his efforts to restore professionalism to the MACC after Teoh’s death, these measures have not been adequate.

The Penang chief minister said the MACC chief’s efforts were not fully successful due to the secretive nature of its methods, lack of independence from the Attorney-General and federal government, and failure to take action against what he termed the blatant corrupt practices by Barisan Nasional leaders.

“The death of Ahmad Sarbani yesterday undid and undermined all of Abu Kassim’s efforts to make a difference. His accompanying provocative remarks cannot be ignored,” Lim said.

He repeated his call for a RCI on the latest incident and asked for a full revamp of the MACC to be conducted by anti-graft watchdog Transparency International “with full powers to effect any changes necessary whether the federal government likes it or not.”

MACC investigations director Datuk Mustafar Ali told reporters yesterday that Ahmad Sarbani returned to the MACC building at 8.26am without an appointment and had requested to meet with the investigation officer.

Sarbani had already given his statement to MACC and was released from custody at 12.30pm on Saturday.

He had been remanded on March 29 following an MACC-led swoop on a Customs syndicate that it said was worth billions in unpaid taxes, resulting in the arrests of 62 officers.

“The deceased had asked to meet with the investigation officer but did not say why,” Mustafar said.

The chief investigator said an officer then accompanied the Customs officer to a room in the office before leaving to collect the case file but found him missing when he returned.

Sarbani’s body was later found on the badminton court on the first floor, but friends who visited the mortuary where his autopsy was being conducted yesterday said it was impossible that the 56-year-old Customs assistant director committed suicide over the MACC investigations.