PKR members’ sacking: MACC admits mistake, says does not make suggestions to political parties

PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has admitted its mistake in sending a letter to PKR advising disciplinary action against two members, who were later sacked by the party.

The anti-corruption body is not supposed to make recommendations to political parties to act against their members for committing wrongdoing.

Its deputy chief commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Azam Baki said that according to the disciplinary guideline that the Commission has to abide by, the MACC is only required to report wrongdoing to ministries, federal or state agencies.

He said this means a report is sent out if the one who committed the offence is a civil servant.

He also explained that the MACC does not report or make recommendations on disciplinary action to any political party.

“The MACC admits there was an error on the part of the MACC report branch chief through a letter to the said party where it was recommended that disciplinary action be taken against those who violated the party’s code of ethics.

“It is not a policy or practice of the commission to send such a report to any political party in relation to wrongdoings committed by its members,” Azam told The Star on Monday (Nov 25).

He said that the MACC would be sending a letter to explain the error to the PKR disciplinary board chairman to avoid “any misunderstanding in the future”.

PKR on Sunday (Nov 24) sacked its Bera division chief Zakaria Abdul Hamid and Pahang member Ismail Dulhadi following corruption allegations brought against them by the MACC.

In announcing this, PKR disciplinary board chairman Datuk Ahmad Kassim said the party had received a letter from MACC dated Oct 23 on the allegations.

PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the party could not go into details of the alleged wrongdoings as they were confidential, but added there were strong grounds for PKR to take disciplinary action against them.