The MACC will remain hopeless if they do not have prosecutorial powers and if they do not demonstrate courage to push for independence in the fight against corruption.
Perhaps they can start by telling us what happened to the complaint by Lim Chee Wee, their own oversight panel member who said that the Attorney-General was wrong to order the MACC to close investigations into SRC International Sdn Bhd and the RM2.6 billion donation. What was Lim talking about when he said the Attorney-General should have provided legal assistance through Mutual Legal Assistance to the probe? Lim is also reported to have said that the Attorney-General is under a legal obligation to give detailed and satisfactory reasons to the public as to why he disagrees with the recommendation of any law enforcement agency.
This comes from a member of the MACC’s oversight panel. So did the MACC make other recommendations and did the Attorney-General disagree? Further and in addition to that, if it is true that there was a failure to assist as stated, the question is, what did the MACC do about it? Why did they not make attempts to seek orders from court to facilitate assistance? There appears to be a list of reports quoting sources from Saudi Arabia after the probe was directed to be closed by the Attorney-General. How does all that impact on the probe? These are matters of huge significance to the public. To my mind, Is it not wrong for the public to ask questions and demand answers in circumstances like these.
The fact remains that much has happened after the Attorney-General directed the closure of investigations into this case, a decision which to me is clearly beyond his powers under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution. But the question is what is the MACC going to do about it?
To my mind, this is a classic case in which the MACC should seek a pronouncement from court as to whether or not they can be directed to close investigations into any case and test Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution. This they must do as a dangerous precedent has been set.
But here lies the problem. What will the MACC do? For now it seems that they will do nothing.
Does this not paint a most hopeless if not helpless picture about the MACC especially over their handling of this investigation? With respect, they should not blame the law alone. They have themselves to blame as well if what they do is not enough to convince the people that they are being as transparent and upfront as possible.
Central to this of course is that all important question of how much they are prepared to do in order to demonstrate and assert their independence if and when faced with difficulties when it comes to prosecutions in cases involving corruption.