MACC chief commissioner Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed yesterday told the 15th Malaysian Law Conference that declaration of assets was “very, very important” not only for Cabinet but the judiciary as well.
“I wish him luck,” Zaid told The Malaysian Insider.
The maverick politician said that when he had tried to push for the same during his tenure as law minister in Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Cabinet, he received no support other than from the prime minister himself.
However, he declined to elaborate further on the opposition he faced from Cabinet, saying he cannot reveal what went on during Cabinet meetings.
“All I can say is, there was strong opposition from very senior ministers,” he said.
“I don’t see why there should be a change of mind now.”
No Barisan Nasional (BN) leader has yet to respond to Abu Kassim’s proposal which comes two years after Abdullah’s directive to Cabinet members to declare their assets in a bid to appease a public increasingly sceptical of BN’s capacity for reform following its historic losses in Election 2008.
Ministers and deputy ministers were required to fill in asset declaration forms with the MACC’s predecessor, the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), with the intention of making the information available online for public scrutiny.
However, Abdullah backed down from this plan after facing stiff opposition from ministers, who felt that it would be an invasion of privacy if the public knew their financial worth.
The Cabinet members now declare their assets to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak annually but it is not made public.
Zaid also said that even if the MACC managed to get ministers to declare their assets, it would be ineffective in fighting corruption if not coupled with the power to compel explanation for unusual expenditures.
“Declaring assets is one thing, but the MACC should have the power to ask, ‘How do you get all this?’“ he said of ministers clearly living beyond their means.
“You don’t have to have evidence of corruption before you move in.”
He added that a declaration alone could amount to “another way of hiding” depending on how it was carried out.
“If it just a declaration, they will just say, ‘Oh, I already declared to the [prime] minister,’“ he said.
The nation’s top graft fighter’s proposal came in response to a suggestion from former Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan that the assets of politicians — particularly those in the Cabinet — and the judiciary be made publicly available for the sake of transparency.
MACC has come under sustained fire after its January 2009 start for what detractors claim is a poor record of prosecution and ineffective fight against corruption.
In particular, the perceived foot-dragging in getting to the bottom of Teoh Beng Hock’s suspicious death continues to haunt the national anti-graft body a year after the tragedy.
The 30-year-old political secretary to Selangor state councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah was found dead on July 16 last year on a fifth-floor landing at Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, nine floors below the Selangor MACC’s then headquarters.
He had been interrogated overnight by anti-graft officers probing claims his boss was misusing state funds.
On the anniversary of Teoh’s death, Abu Kassim had pledged not to “cover up” the actions of anyone who may have been involved in causing the DAP political aide’s death.
However, the MACC’s condolence statement to Teoh’s family drew heavy criticism because it was only available in Chinese.
Teoh’s younger sister, Lee Lan, had also slammed Abu Kassim for his “insincere” effort.
