Former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Abu Kassim Mohamed will not be issuing any public response to allegations of involvement in a high-profile plot to topple Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the Malaysian government.
"I have consulted my lawyer and my lawyer told me to keep quiet so that the procedure would be easier," Abu Kassim told reporters when met after his official farewell function at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya today.
Abu Kassim did not elaborate further on his remarks, including whether the procedure involved any legal action against Umno vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun who had lodged the report against him, former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz and former Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail.
In his report, Khairul Azwan said the three were suspected of providing confidential information to foreign agencies without authorisation, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
He also alleged that some of the documents submitted were falsified and the information twisted to achieve their agenda.
Earlier, in his final address to more than 1,000 MACC officers, Abu Kassim urged them to influence his successor to continue introducing core reforms in combating corruption.
"We do not want this oldest anti-graft agency in the world to be left behind just because we fail to implement core reforms, to ensure that MACC remains relevant now and in the future," he said.
Since 1984, when MACC was still known as the Anti-Corruption Agency, Abu Kassim said that to make Malaysia free from corruption has always been his ideal.
The ACA was transformed into MACC in 2009 and Abu Kassim stressed that the most important challenge would be for MACC to regain and maintain public confidence.
During Abu Kassim's tenure in office, the MACC had most recently came under close public scrutiny over its investigations linked to state investor 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation scandal.
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