KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) advisory panel said today that its chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam had acted in his own capacity when he defended the Attorney-General (AG).Navaratnam had said that MACC members were satisfied with AG Tan Seri Abdul Gani Patail’s explanation and found that there was no need to investigate the allegations linking him to former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chairman Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli.
The panel said that the members had met on January 10 and agreed that Ramon’s statement was his “personal judgement.”“The panel also agreed that investigations by the MACC will continue where necessary to ensure the truth or otherwise of any allegations made against the AG,” the statement said.The country’s top lawyer was alleged to have shared the same travel package to Mecca with Tajuddin’s proxy Shahidan Shafie, fuelling further speculation over earlier claims that the lawyer had been “convinced” not to press charges against Tajuddin, who also once owned mobile provider Celcom Bhd.
Tajuddin is presently under investigation for graft following the national carrier’s whopping losses of some RM8 billion during his tenure.Malaysia Today editor and controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin has alleged that Shahidan had fostered ties with Abdul Gani when he was a police officer in Johor Bahru.
The portal had also published records and pictures of the duo’s trip to Mecca, under a package said to have cost about RM60,000 a head.Shahidan was said to have picked up the tab.
Abdul Gani has since met MACC board and penal members and provided proof of his recent haj pilgrimage to Mecca.Navaratnam had told The Malaysian Insider that MACC members were satisfied with Abdul Gani’s explanation and found that there was no need to investigate the allegations.“We found that there was no basis to the accusations of him being linked to Tajuddin just because of this trip. It was irresponsible to allege that he was in any way linked.
“Panel members did not see it fit to investigate the matter as we do not go by hearsay or irresponsible rumours,” he said.However, MACC corruption prevention panel advisor Tan Sri Robert Phang has denied that the panel was satisfied with Abdul Ghani’s explanation and said the AG had failed to dispel suspicions that he was “consorting” with Shahidan.Tajuddin was MAS executive chairman from 1994-2001. During his tenure, the national airline experienced losses totalling RM8 billion – its biggest ever – which led to complaints being lodged against him.
According to a report to the MACC, a major contributor to MAS’s record losses under Tajuddin was the relocation of its cargo operations in Amsterdam and Frankfurt to a single hub in Hahn, Germany.
Subsequently, the airline was forced to enter into a disadvantageous aircraft lease contract with a company, which was later linked to Tajuddin’s family.The new cargo hub operation had caused MAS to suffer losses of between RM10 million and RM16 million a month before the project was terminated once the government had regained control of MAS in 2001.
The termination resulted in a RM300 million arbitration claim against MAS by the company.
The report to the MACC dated May last year also alleged that the Attorney-General has been reluctant to prosecute Tajuddin, despite the then-CCID chief Datuk Ramli Yusoff’s assurance in 2007 that various prosecutable offences had been identified.It also claimed that Tajuddin had been granted access to investigative and police records, which were used to facilitate the arbitration claim.
Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/macc-advisory-panel-disclaims-chairmans-statement-on-ags-explanation/
The panel said that the members had met on January 10 and agreed that Ramon’s statement was his “personal judgement.”“The panel also agreed that investigations by the MACC will continue where necessary to ensure the truth or otherwise of any allegations made against the AG,” the statement said.The country’s top lawyer was alleged to have shared the same travel package to Mecca with Tajuddin’s proxy Shahidan Shafie, fuelling further speculation over earlier claims that the lawyer had been “convinced” not to press charges against Tajuddin, who also once owned mobile provider Celcom Bhd.
Tajuddin is presently under investigation for graft following the national carrier’s whopping losses of some RM8 billion during his tenure.Malaysia Today editor and controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin has alleged that Shahidan had fostered ties with Abdul Gani when he was a police officer in Johor Bahru.
The portal had also published records and pictures of the duo’s trip to Mecca, under a package said to have cost about RM60,000 a head.Shahidan was said to have picked up the tab.
Abdul Gani has since met MACC board and penal members and provided proof of his recent haj pilgrimage to Mecca.Navaratnam had told The Malaysian Insider that MACC members were satisfied with Abdul Gani’s explanation and found that there was no need to investigate the allegations.“We found that there was no basis to the accusations of him being linked to Tajuddin just because of this trip. It was irresponsible to allege that he was in any way linked.
“Panel members did not see it fit to investigate the matter as we do not go by hearsay or irresponsible rumours,” he said.However, MACC corruption prevention panel advisor Tan Sri Robert Phang has denied that the panel was satisfied with Abdul Ghani’s explanation and said the AG had failed to dispel suspicions that he was “consorting” with Shahidan.Tajuddin was MAS executive chairman from 1994-2001. During his tenure, the national airline experienced losses totalling RM8 billion – its biggest ever – which led to complaints being lodged against him.
According to a report to the MACC, a major contributor to MAS’s record losses under Tajuddin was the relocation of its cargo operations in Amsterdam and Frankfurt to a single hub in Hahn, Germany.
Subsequently, the airline was forced to enter into a disadvantageous aircraft lease contract with a company, which was later linked to Tajuddin’s family.The new cargo hub operation had caused MAS to suffer losses of between RM10 million and RM16 million a month before the project was terminated once the government had regained control of MAS in 2001.
The termination resulted in a RM300 million arbitration claim against MAS by the company.
The report to the MACC dated May last year also alleged that the Attorney-General has been reluctant to prosecute Tajuddin, despite the then-CCID chief Datuk Ramli Yusoff’s assurance in 2007 that various prosecutable offences had been identified.It also claimed that Tajuddin had been granted access to investigative and police records, which were used to facilitate the arbitration claim.
Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/macc-advisory-panel-disclaims-chairmans-statement-on-ags-explanation/
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