Malaysia's anti-graft chief dumped

The Sunday Times, April 1, 2007
By Leslie Lau, MALAYSIA CORRESPONDENT

Govt will not renew contract of Zulkipli Mat Noor, who is under probe for corruption


KUALA LUMPUR - PRIME Minister Abdullah Badawi has dumped Malaysia's anti-corruption boss amid allegations of graft.

In a statement issued late on Friday night to the national news agency Bernama, Datuk Seri Abdullah's office said it would not be renewing the contract of Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor, which ended yesterday.

'The government takes this opportunity to express the highest gratitude and thanks to Zulkipli for his services,' the statement said, without making any reference to graft allegations.

The move to drop Datuk Seri Zulkipli comes as Datuk Seri Abdullah attempts to restore confidence in his anti-corruption campaign.

Datuk Seri Zulkipli, director-general of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for the last six years, is under police investigation over allegations made by another former ACA official.

The former official claimed that Datuk Seri Zulkipli had 'amassed substantial property and assets through corrupt practices'. The allegations have been denied by Datuk Seri Zulkipli, who is a former policeman.

The ex-ACA official had lodged a police report against his former boss and written to the Prime Minister.

Responding to the latest development, Datuk Seri Zulkipli told Bernama yesterday that he accepted the decision to end his contract 'with an open heart'.

'I have performed my duties to my level best. My advice to my successor is to work as a team always,' he said.

A special police team investigating the allegations against him recorded a statement from him last Wednesday.

Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan said on Friday that 21 other people had also been questioned.

Federal CID chief Christopher Wan said a special team of 10 police officers had been set up to investigate the allegations. 'We cannot reveal when the report will be completed...The important thing is that we have begun recording statements,' said Datuk Wan, who is heading the special team.

Prime Minister Abdullah won a landslide election victory in 2004 on an anti-corruption platform. But his critics say corruption remains rife in the government.

His predecessor Mahathir Mohamad has also criticised him for the slow progress of reforms.

Datuk Seri Zulkipli is one of two high-profile government officials accused recently of corruption.

The other official is Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum, who has denied allegations that he was bribed to free criminal suspects from jail.

Amid criticism from the opposition and other critics, Datuk Seri Abdullah said recently that statistics showed up to 85 per cent of corruption allegations were baseless.

He said this to justify his decision not to sideline either Datuk Johari or Datuk Seri Zulkipli.

But by dumping Datuk Seri Zulkipli now, he appears to be responding to public unhappiness with graft.