KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in Parliament today that no corrupt politician has been spared from the criminal justice system.
He conceded that efforts to battle graft remains difficult after Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim asked for an explanation about Malaysia’s drop in the latest corruption perception index.
Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat during Question Time that the government does not practise selective prosecution, citing the ongoing corruption trials involving both government and Opposition elected representatives as proof of Putrajaya’s commitment to quash graft.
“From the aspect of what action has been taken regarding corruption, I believe your honourable is aware that there are many trials in the courts that involve just about anyone, whether from the opposition or the government’s side,” Ismail replied to Anwar.
“We see that today the graft cases are still ongoing, so that shows the government is serious about acting against anyone who is allegedly corrupt…so there is no issue about the government protecting anyone,” the Bera MP from Umno added.
“When it comes to corruption we protect nobody. Whoever is accused of corruption the courts will decide on the right course of action.”
Perceived corruption in Malaysia has worsened further according to Transparency International (TI) that ranked the country 62nd in 2021, or five rungs lower than the previous year.
During an online press brief today, the international watchdog said Malaysia scored 48 points in the annual Global Corruption Index (CPI), the first time the country’s score dropped below 50 since 2012.
Anwar, MP for Port Dickson, suggested that the drop in ranking reflected the government’s lackadaisical attitude towards tackling major corruption allegations, pointing to the latest allegation against Bank Negara Malaysia’s former governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
Zeti’s husband Datuk Tawfiq Ayman was alleged to have been bribed as part of a deal to make BNM approve an “overnight” foreign exchange transfer of US$1 billion (RM4.9 billion) from 1MDB to PetroSaudi International (PSI) that Zeti was said to have greenlit.
“Perception of corruption is increasing because it appears that there is no political will to deal with it,” Anwar said.
“For example I raised the issue of the Pandora Papers, and then the questions around 1MDB that have yet to be answered. Just recently a fresh allegation had emerged, yet those involved are prancing about here and there as if they have done nothing wrong,” the PKR leader added.
“This is a big problem.”
In the past, the Malaysian government often adopted a dismissive attitude towards the corruption index, usually responding by saying the methodology used to score Malaysia’s corruption problem as problematic since they are conducted by “external parties”.
Ismail employed the same line of argument in the House today, saying the index does not necessarily reflect the facts.
“Yes we are scored based on nine criteria but they are done mostly by external parties, which tend to be merely based on perception,” the prime minister said.
