KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said today denied saying the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) stopped its investigation into claims that Perikatan Nasional (PN) receiving funds from gambling companies.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) clarified that her written parliamentary reply said the MACC never undertook an investigation into the matter.
“In the written reply the MACC gave, which I presented as the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, it was stated that the MACC had conducted a thorough study on the issue.
“However, the MACC found that the information obtained was too general and no parties can verify the issue, hence no investigation files was open on this issue,” Azalina said in a statement.
She said her reply on behalf of the MACC never indicated that any investigation was stopped or discontinued.
Azalina repeated that the MACC said information it received on the matter so far did not contain enough details to support further investigation.
“In this regard, MACC as an independent and neutral body will of course and have the right to conduct related investigations and open investigation where necessary according to the MACC Act 2009 or any law in force under to information and evidence obtained from time to time,” she said.
She also said that other than the MACC, agencies such as the Royal Malaysia Police and Inland Revenue Board were also empowered to initiate their own investigation into any wrongdoing.
“Malaysian laws do not have any time limit to initiate any action on criminal cases,” she added.
The minister then criticised those who had sensationalised or distorted her reply to the Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhil Shaari, and urged them to not make baseless accusations against the prime minister.
She also called for the rule of law to respected, and cautioned against jumping to conclusions based on her parliamentary reply.
Yesterday, Azalina replied to Ahmad Fadhil who asked about the status of the investigation on claims that PN parties received contributions from the gambling companies in the last general election.
