Topic: MACC Independence
Related news: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/09/15/be-more-transparent-in-cases-involving-politicians-macc-told/
Coverage by: Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: An anti-corruption watchdog has urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to be more transparent in cases involving politicians after it was revealed yesterday that a minister has been cleared of graft.
In a parliamentary written reply to Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that MACC’s investigation into women, family and community development minister Rina Harun found no elements of corruption in her million-ringgit debt settlement with a French production company.
“@SPRMMalaysia (MACC) for public interest cases like these, more information ought to be disclosed to ensure politicians in high office are really free of graft,” Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism’s (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel said in a tweet.
“And why is the PM answering for SPRM (MACC)?”
Rina, who heads the Bersatu women’s wing, was served a bankruptcy notice for debts owed to Paris-based film and television programme production company Sarl Novovision to the tune of RM1,340,642.02 as at Nov 17, 2020.
The claim was for several films, comedy shows and documentaries in the comedy genre sold to three companies in which Rina was a director.
In February, lawyer Mark Ho, who represented Sarl Novovision, said Rina had settled the debt but declined to disclose the exact amount.
An MACC report was then lodged against Rina over the source of the funds which she used to settle the debt, and in July, several opposition MPs called for the commission to reveal the findings of its investigation.
They said that based on the list of assets Rina had declared over a year ago, it was not possible for her to have accumulated so much wealth and paid off her debt in such a short period.
