‘Nullification of seat a reminder for all parties’

PUTRAJAYA: The nullification of the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat result from the 15th General Election should serve as a reminder to election aspirants to exercise care in their campaign activities, says top graft buster Tan Sri Azam Baki.

Warning candidates not to engage in activities that could be constituted as corruption, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner said anti-graft officers are keeping a close watch on candidates contesting in the six state polls to ensure the elections are free of corruption.

He said that his officers were also monitoring the movements and activities of candidates’ agents so that they too would not be involved in wrongful activities.

“MACC enforcement officers, with the cooperation of multiple agencies, are already on the ground to ensure this election is clean,” he said yesterday.

Azam said that information would be chanelled to the agency’s top officials within 24 hours so that officers could act on such information quickly.

“If there are elements of corruption, we will take immediate action, including placing those suspected of committing corruption under arrest,” he said.

On June 27, the Terengganu Election Court annulled the victory of Datuk Amzad Hashim of PAS, who had won the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat in November 2022.

Judge Mohd Firus Jaffril said the petitioner, namely Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Mohd Zubir Embong, succeeded in proving that corruption had taken place with the aim of influencing voters in the constituency.

A by-election is being held for the seat on Aug 12, which will be a straight fight between Ahmad Amzad and Azan Ismail of Pakatan Harapan.