KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — Tan Sri Azam Baki’s cooperation or otherwise with a parliamentary select committee investigating him over his share ownership could affect Pakatan Harapan’s commitment towards the present government’s stability, said Lim Kit Siang.
He said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner’s refusal to meet with Parliament Select Committee (PSC) for Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department could be crossing a “red line” for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Transformation and Political Stability.
The Iskandar Puteri MP pointed out that among items agreed in the MoU was for reforms for more PSCs and to empower these to be more effective.
“Azam-gate has become a test case for the CSR MoU whether the parliamentary special select committee on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department can function meaningfully,” Lim said.
Lim also insisted that the Securities Commission’s statement yesterday did not absolve Azam, and simply concluded that it was unable to “conclusively establish” that Azam had breached the law.
PH signed the MoU with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government last September to pledge a commitment not to press for a general election before this July in return for specific reforms.
Yesterday, the SC said it has finished its inquiry on Azam’s controversial acquisition of public shares and found no conclusive evidence that he broke stock trading rules.
The SC began looking into the issue earlier this month after Azam openly admitted in a news conference that his brother, Nasir Baki, had used his share trading account — with his permission — to buy millions of shares in two public-listed companies back in 2015.
The SC said it did not conclusively find that Azam committed any breach under section 25(4) Securities Central Depository Act 1991 (SICDA) that a trading account must be opened in the name of the beneficial owner or authorised nominee.
Shortly after that, Azam issued a statement declaring that the SC had found him innocent.
