PAS urges MACC to prioritise corruption probes after journalist arrested

PAS urges MACC to prioritise corruption probes after journalist arrested

PETALING JAYA: PAS says the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission should focus on investigating media reports about corruption involving foreign worker agents and immigration department staff, rather than arresting a journalist for allegedly soliciting and receiving a bribe from an agent.

PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan noted that MACC arrested 37 enforcement officers at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last September for allegedly colluding and receiving bribes from syndicates involved in smuggling foreign nationals into the country.

He said such activities could cause more harm to the country’s security and economy compared to the alleged criminal extortion involving Malaysiakini journalist B Nantha Kumar, who wrote articles about the alleged operations of a Pakistani cartel smuggling foreign workers into Malaysia.

A lawyer by training, Takiyuddin also questioned MACC’s decision to arrest Nantha based solely on a report from a foreign worker agent who claimed that Nantha had solicited a RM100,000 bribe from him.

“This is somewhat peculiar from several angles and needs to be carefully examined, especially in terms of motive, priority and legality,” said the former law minister in a statement.

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Takiyuddin said if the criminal extortion allegations against Nantha were true, they should have been reported to the police for an investigation under the Penal Code.

In a Malaysiakini report yesterday, MACC chief Azam Baki denied that Nantha was arrested because of an article about a foreign worker trafficking cartel.

Azam alleged that Nantha had solicited RM100,000 from a foreign worker agent in return for not publishing two articles about him, with the sum eventually reduced to RM20,000.

The agent lodged a report with MACC, after which the anti-graft agency arranged for the agent to meet the journalist at a hotel in Selangor, where the cash was handed over.

Azam said MACC officers arrested Nantha on the spot with the RM20,000.

Nantha has been remanded for four days and is being investigated for soliciting and receiving bribes under Section 16(a)(a) of the MACC Act 2009.