MACC Officers in Action over Sale of Sand
January 20, 2010
MACC Officers Raid Selangor State Exco’s Office
by Rahim Sabri
A team of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers raided the office of Selangor Exco Yaakob Sapari at the state secretariat in Shah Alam this afternoon. The five officers led by Premraj Victor arrived at about 12.45pm and then proceeded to Yaacob’s office and seized several files.
According to sources, a MACC report has been lodged against an aide, Hussein Ahmad, with regard to his alleged involvement in corruption over the sale of sand.
Yaakob (left) is the Exco for Agriculture, Modernisation, National Resources Management and Entrepreneur Development.
A spokesperson with the Selangor media secretariat confirmed that the MACC investigation is linked to the sale of sand. Also on scene were state legal adviser Salim Bashir and Assocation of Pakatan Rakyat Special Officers chairperson Razak Ismail.
It is believed that the incident is the outcome of disagreement over the management of the state- owned Semesta Group which oversees the sale of sand in Selangor. Before Pakatan Rakyat took over the Selangor government, it was claimed that the theft of sand was rampant.
This resulted in Semesta Group being appointed to oversee the sale of sand. The group falls under the purview of Yaakob, under his natural resource management portfolio. However, it is understood that there are still allegations of corruption connected with the sand deal, including some by Pakatan assemblypersons.
PKR’s Bukit Antarabangsa representative Azmin Ali had, during a state assembly seating, chastised Semesta for its lacklustre performance.
Yaakob revealed that the investigators are not only looking at approval of the sale of sand, but also at details of his visit to China last November.
“The officers took away three documents – the company profile for Semesta Group, documentation on my visit to Hang Zhou and Yiew and my visit to Beijing last week.”
It is understood that Hussein had accompanied Yaakob to China. Yaakob labelled MACC’s action as “intentionally trying to embarrass me”.
Arrest warrant served
At the time of writing, three other state excos – Ronnie Liu, Elizabeth Wong and Dr Xavier Jayakumar – are in Yaakob’s office in a show of support.
The officers recorded a statement from Hussein before serving him with an arrest warrant and transporting him to the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya for further interrogation. Yaakob and Salim accompanied him.
Bukit Lanjan assemblyperson Elizabeth Wong said in a Twitter message that the officers had asked if there is a back door they could use to leave the building.
She rebuked them for being cowards, commenting that if they were brave enough to come through the front door, they should be brave enough to leave the same way.
A minor commotion ensued when a security officer told the investigation team to fill in the visitor’s log book for Yaakob’s office, prior to their departure. They initially refused to do so but, after being harangued by Yaakob, they filled the logbook.
This is the latest in a series of raids on offices of Selangor exco members, and the third time a state employee has been taken for interrogation. On July 16 last year, DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock was found dead outside the Selangor MACC office after being questioned overnight as a witness. An inquest is underway.
The MACC seems to have very wide powers. The officers seem to be the pseudo Gomen and genuine Gestapo, as the elected parliamentarians talk kok and drink teh tarik all day.
lawless MACC seems invincible and no law can stop them. How horrifying
backStreetGluttons - January 20, 2010 at 10:37 pm
some how MACC seems to be rather productive but at all the wrong areas and totally missing the apparent culprits. this reminds me of the situation of a company i used to work for, which is on steep competition with another company. the employee are very loyal and they despise the employee of their competitor to the point they make jokes openly about the other party…. until one day when they company was brought over by thir competitor… and their peers in the other company became their senior / boss…
fairview - January 20, 2010 at 10:39 pm
have you seen them go after the Toyoman for his blatant abuse of power for the numerous Disneyland escapades with his family and maid in toll?
have you seen them go after Toyoman for his extravagant palace in Shah Alam?
have you seen them go after the UMNOPutras who live well beyond their means.
This is MACC for you. They can change all the heads they want but everything remains the same. Disgust is the word.
Teoh, why dont your spirit rises and cast a doom spell on MACC?
cbc - January 20, 2010 at 10:40 pm
According to Raja Petra Selangor was supposed to have fallen during the month of January. Plan A, the Allah issue, failed because the Malays did not came out in the streets with parangs in large numbers. So plan B now. They refuse to up give up, aren’t they?
vsp - January 20, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Plan B only, vsp? I thought they have up tp plan Z. Nothing that can’t be handled, unless the jumble up the letters – then PR’s in real trouble. They are very fond of alphabet soup, due tho literacy problems. But they know where their ‘butter and jam’ is spread.
It amazes me that the PR state gomens still don’t have good counter intelligence ‘units’. Wake up! This is fight to the finish!
No point twittering here and there – all it does shows a confused state of mind. Emotions and curses ultimately don’t do anything – ask the Talibs. There are many ways to win, by strategising properly – but lack of honest ‘intelligence’ due to time spent on ‘twittering’ is fatal…
Menyalak-er - January 21, 2010 at 12:06 am
UMNO and Khir Toyo are desperate. The planned deadline for the UMNO coup to take over Selangor by end of January is fast approaching.
Frank - January 21, 2010 at 5:32 am
looks more like a diversion from the allah issue .
cerdik pandai - January 21, 2010 at 7:22 am
Read this shocking letter about the dragon boat tragedy here http://margeemar.blogspot.com/2010/01/pakatan-rakyat-caused-deaths-of-teacher.html#links
Lazarus - January 21, 2010 at 9:24 am
We are becoming like an African nation day by day. Can no one stop the rot?! We can keep writing comments and getting angry but we must come together and make it happen at the next GE. Let us make our voices heard!!
Ah Meng - January 21, 2010 at 9:58 am
i am made to guess that MACC has a very close link with Toyal they take orders from him, otherwise, why no response when all the reports made against Toyal. This is not right to have a MACC in
assistance in Malaysia where they select who to probe yet they are
paid by tax payers and that Toyol may call all the shots
ajajal - January 21, 2010 at 11:56 am
Hahaha ajajal…, that’s the nature of djinns i suppose – truly Javanese black magic.
Menyalak-er - January 21, 2010 at 1:57 pm
This sand matter was inherited from the UMNO-BN era. It is interesting that only now, the MACC is cracking down on those who are allegedly involved. Investigate the former Menteri Besar, Khir Toyo and his cronies as well. Only in that way will MACC be seen as impartial and serious about fighting corruption.
Judging from your comments, I think this is another diversionary move on the part of the Federal Government. But a start has been made and the MACC must now widen its net to get those who were previously involved in the sand business.–Din Merican
dinobeano - January 21, 2010 at 2:51 pm
ajalal ,
i remember din merican asking us to give the new head of macc sometime based on his conversation with tan sri ramon navaratnam. i guess the signs are not too good .. right ?
the head may change but the macc ” head ” remains .
stephen - January 21, 2010 at 3:41 pm
This is what Raja Petra said in his Malaysia-Today on Pakatan Rakyat and especially PKR in Selangor:
“We, the people, are the boss! We voted for Pakatan Rakyat, which enabled them to form the state government. So we tell them what we want. They do not do what they like. They do what we demand. And we demand that all this shit comes to a stop. Let us demonstrate our unhappiness about what is going on in Selangor.
Selangor is under attack. And Pakatan Rakyat fiddles while the state burns. It is time the people showed Pakatan Rakyat that we can no longer tolerate all this nonsense. Where is Anwar Ibrahim? He took over as the so-called adviser to the Selangor state government weeks ago but what has he done other than fly all over the world meeting religious scholars and delivering keynote addresses at international conferences?
If Anwar wants to play the role of ‘international statesman’ then that is well and fine with me. I have no problems with that. But then give up the position of adviser to the Selangor state government because he is never around to do the job and Selangor is drifting rudderless. And anything that drifts rudderless sooner or later gets stranded on the rocks.
Maybe Anwar is troubled with the move to send him to jail on a fabricated charge of sodomy, and now for being the ‘mastermind’ behind the church attacks as well. In that case take sabbatical leave and go solve your personal problems first. And after your personal problems have been solved then come back into active political life.
You can’t allow your personal problems to affect your performance at the expense of the voters who voted Pakatan Rakyat into office. And your performance is certainly shoddy indeed. This is a violation of the trust the people put in Pakatan Rakyat.
The people voted for change. They voted for a better government. But all they are getting is the same old shit.
Yes, I am repeating myself. But can I help not repeating myself when after saying the same thing over and over again nothing changes? Selangor is the jewel in the crown. So Umno will leave no stone unturned in its effort to get back this jewel. And what is Pakatan Rakyat doing about it? They are fiddling while the state burns.
Enough said!”
To the above I would add, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim is in a state of denial and Anwar Ibrahim is a big talker who is only interested in being the Prime Minister, not in his people and the rakyat. It is a sad state of affairs. They have squandered the opportunity given to them by the rakyat nearly two years ago to make difference. Ignore the voters at your own peril.
Pak Abu - January 21, 2010 at 10:25 pm
ajalal, let us see what Abu Kassim can do. Changing culture is a challenge for him. I am prepared to give him more time to show us what he can do. But I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that he cannot do much without political support from the Prime Minister.–Din Merican
dinobeano - January 21, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Hmm…, the Nero paradigm it seems.
I’d rather the state gomen leave me alone.
Specifically, what exactly is the problem, besides Selangor ‘burning’ – politically or otherwise? They have just retarred some of the roads, but they still insist that i pay for dog licenses, even if i don’t have a dog.
Furthermore, ‘the people are the boss’ sounds pretty immature and asinine. Toyols are the boss, says Sivaji.
Menyalak-er - January 21, 2010 at 11:23 pm
SPRM hanya melakukan siasatan terhadap laporan yang telah dibuat. Ini adalah selari dengan janji Ketua Suruhanjaya SPRM yang baru untuk menyiasat kes-kes yang dilaporkan dalam usaha membanteras rasuah di Malaysia.
Yang peliknya, mengapa perlu memperbesarkan perkara ini? Kalau tak salah, tak perlulah menggelabah. Jika tiada bukti bersalah, yang malu nanti SPRM.
im-sesat- - January 22, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Majority are government officers. Only one exco from PR. What is wrong here?
BN reps were always in the news with BPR, for many many years, did BN attack BPR?
If PR wants to clean up their act, let MACC do the cleaning up. Why need to spin against them?
Who knows, one day PR might hold putrajaya and MACC can make selective arrest against opposition BN
just think a little further .
After almost 2 years, PR is still trapped in the opposition mindset.
Carlos - January 22, 2010 at 11:17 pm
didnt that Toyo took his family with maid in tow galavanting ib disneylands? where are you MACC? cant investigate that man because he is a taiko in UMNO?
oh, btw what about millions of contracts given to his nominee, who happens to be a chinaman. cant investigate him?
how can that Toyoman afford that mansion? oh, may be his income was extraordinary high from his dentistry days? cabut cabut cabut? semua pun cabut, eh no?
cbc - January 24, 2010 at 5:01 pm