A Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigating officer said he conducted a search in Seri Kembangan assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah’s office without a search warrant.
Mohd Anwar Ismail said he had used Section 31 (3) of the MACC Act to search Ean Yong’s office at the Selangor state secretariat building and seize a central processing unit (CPU) and laptop.
“The MACC does not need a warrant,” Mohd Anwar told the Commission of Inquiry into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.
However, Commission chairman Federal Court judge Tan Sri James Foong and commissioner Datuk T. Selventhiranathan pointed out that Section 31 (3) of the MACC Act was only applicable during emergency situations.
Selventhiranathan said what Mohd Anwar did was an abuse of power as the search and seizure in Ean Yong’s office was not conducted in an emergency situation.
“You cannot grab like this. Anyone who has gone through a law course will know this is an exception and not a general rule,” said Selventhiranathan.
Mohd Anwar is a lawyer by training and had practised for several years before joining the MACC.
Teoh, who was Ean Yong’s political secretary, was taken to the Selangor MACC office on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam for questioning on July 15, 2009. He was found dead the next day.
Selventhiranathan also told Mohd Anwar he was virtually emasculating the public prosecutor’s powers by proceeding under Section 31 (3) of the MACC Act.
He told Mohd Anwar that Section 31 was meant to prevent blatant search and entry.
Both Foong and Selventhiranathan also told Mohd Anwar they wondered how MACC officers with SPM qualification would apply the Act, given his interpretation of it.
Mohd Anwar also told the Commission that Kota Alam Shah assemblyman and DAP lawyer M. Manoharan had asked to be allowed to speak with Ean Yong and Teoh in private and he had granted permission.
“He didn’t even have to ask you,” said Foong, adding that the Commission did not want the MACC to have more power than the police.
Source - The Star
Monday, March 21, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Campaign Launched Against Sarawak Timber Corruption
The Bruno Manser Fund launched a international campaign against the blatant corruption and abuse of public funds by Abdul Taib Mahmud, Chief Minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. A campaign website, http://www.stop-timber-corruption.org, will be regularly updated and is equipped with features for an interactive campaign with public participation. Taib, one of South East Asia's longest-serving politicians, has been in office since 1981 and is planning to celebrate his 30th anniversary in power on 26 March 2011. The 75-year old kleptocrat will stand as an incumbent for another five-year term of office in the upcoming Sarawak state elections, which are due to be held before July.
Taib has abused his public office to a frightening extent and has managed to convert the state of Sarawak into his family's private estate. He simultaneously holds the offices of Chief Minister, and Finance Minister, as well as that of State Planning and Resources Minister, which gives him enormous political power. In addition, Malaysia's “Barisan Nasional” coalition, which forms the federal government, is dependent on Taib's support to remain in power. Sarawak's largest private company, its electricity supply, large-scale logging interests and the control of log exports are also concentrated in the hands of the Taib family.
Since 1983, Taib and his immediate family members have started to transfer considerable parts of their ill-gotten assets overseas. The Bruno Manser Fund has established a black list with 49 Taib companies in eight countries worth hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. The list will be published next week, and the authorities of these countries will be asked to freeze all Taib assets and to launch criminal investigations against the Taib family.
In Sarawak, corruption has proved to be one of the main drivers of deforestation. While most of the state's forests have been logged or converted into plantations over the last three decades, Sarawak's indigenous communities have seen little, if any, benefit from Taib's so-called politics of development. Poverty, illiteracy and a lack of basic infrastructure are omnipresent in rural Sarawak. Sarawak's numerous indigenous communities, and particularly the Penan, have struggled since the 1980s against destructive logging and have fought for their land rights but, in most cases, they have been outmanoeuvred and cheated by Taib and his cronies.
fPcN support this campaign and ask all our members and supporters to join!
Source : Bruno Manser Fond
Taib has abused his public office to a frightening extent and has managed to convert the state of Sarawak into his family's private estate. He simultaneously holds the offices of Chief Minister, and Finance Minister, as well as that of State Planning and Resources Minister, which gives him enormous political power. In addition, Malaysia's “Barisan Nasional” coalition, which forms the federal government, is dependent on Taib's support to remain in power. Sarawak's largest private company, its electricity supply, large-scale logging interests and the control of log exports are also concentrated in the hands of the Taib family.
Since 1983, Taib and his immediate family members have started to transfer considerable parts of their ill-gotten assets overseas. The Bruno Manser Fund has established a black list with 49 Taib companies in eight countries worth hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. The list will be published next week, and the authorities of these countries will be asked to freeze all Taib assets and to launch criminal investigations against the Taib family.
In Sarawak, corruption has proved to be one of the main drivers of deforestation. While most of the state's forests have been logged or converted into plantations over the last three decades, Sarawak's indigenous communities have seen little, if any, benefit from Taib's so-called politics of development. Poverty, illiteracy and a lack of basic infrastructure are omnipresent in rural Sarawak. Sarawak's numerous indigenous communities, and particularly the Penan, have struggled since the 1980s against destructive logging and have fought for their land rights but, in most cases, they have been outmanoeuvred and cheated by Taib and his cronies.
fPcN support this campaign and ask all our members and supporters to join!
Source : Bruno Manser Fond
Friday, March 4, 2011
Lenggeng Assemblyman Guilty of Corruption
March 4, 2011 - Lenggeng assemblyman Mustafa Salim was found guilty Friday of accepting a RM2,000 bribe from a contractor as an inducement to issue a supporting letter to mine sand, more than two years ago.
The Star reported that the 51-year-old, first-term assemblyman from Barisan Nasional BN) was, however, acquitted of two counts of soliciting bribes from one M Manimaran for the same purpose.
Mustafa was charged under Section 10(a)(aa) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 with accepting the money at a restaurant in Mantin on Aug 31, 2008.
The charge carries a jail sentence of between 14 days and 20 years, and fine of five times the bribe amount or a minimum of RM10,000.
The BN representative in the Negeri Sembilan State Assembly and former teacher will be sentenced Sessions Court judge Amran Jantan by at 2.45pm today.
Mustafa was acquitted on April 14, 2010 of three charges of bribery by the Sessions Court but the prosecution appealed the verdict.
The court case raises the possibility of another by-election.
In the March 2008 election, he had beaten Zulkefly Mohamad Omar from PAS by 5,555 votes to 4,270.
Reported By : malaysiandigest
The Star reported that the 51-year-old, first-term assemblyman from Barisan Nasional BN) was, however, acquitted of two counts of soliciting bribes from one M Manimaran for the same purpose.
Mustafa was charged under Section 10(a)(aa) of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 with accepting the money at a restaurant in Mantin on Aug 31, 2008.
The charge carries a jail sentence of between 14 days and 20 years, and fine of five times the bribe amount or a minimum of RM10,000.
The BN representative in the Negeri Sembilan State Assembly and former teacher will be sentenced Sessions Court judge Amran Jantan by at 2.45pm today.
Mustafa was acquitted on April 14, 2010 of three charges of bribery by the Sessions Court but the prosecution appealed the verdict.
The court case raises the possibility of another by-election.
In the March 2008 election, he had beaten Zulkefly Mohamad Omar from PAS by 5,555 votes to 4,270.
Reported By : malaysiandigest
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