31 May 2011

MACC clears A-G and Robert Phang of graft

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) cleared Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail of graft allegations over his Haj pilgrimage to Mecca with his family.MACC also cleared former MACC Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel member Tan Sri Robert Phang of having tried to bribe a ministry's secretary-general.There was not enough evidence to prove graft, according to the MACC on Tuesday.Malaysian online news portals and bloggers had been playing pictures of Abdul Gani seen together with Shahidan Shafie, who was said to be close to former Malaysia Airlines chairman Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli in the recent haj pilgrimage in Mecca.

They had claimed that Shahidan had convinced Abdul Gani not to press charges against Tajuddin, who was chairman of MAS from 1994 to 2001, over the national carrier's loses which ran into billions.MAS was reported to have filed several reports against Tajuddin with the MACC, citing Tajuddin's move to relocate MAS' cargo operations in Amsterdam and Frankfurt to a single hub in Hahn, Germany, as the single biggest loss suffered under him.The new hub operation reportedly incurred monthly losses of between RM10mil to RM16mil before it was terminated and the government took over control of MAS in 2001.

Meanwhile, the allegation against Phang was that sometime before Hari Raya of 2010, the secretary-general of a ministry, which was awarding a contract worth RM900mil, had to tell Phang to leave his office because Phang had tried to bribe him.

More in The Star Wednesday ( 1st June 2011)

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