The government should not adopt the 'let bygones be bygones' stand when handling corruption cases involving public figures, said a senior Barisan Nasional (BN) politician stressed.

"If there is evidence, we must also dig up the past," BN Backbenchers Club head Shahrir Samad said yesterday.

"If we don't dig up the past, the present and future situations may not improve and it could have a negative effect on other graft cases," he added.

Shahrir quipped that he has always 'dug up the past' as he is also the Public Accounts Committee chief. The committee is tasked to oversee and scrutinise public expenditure.

He was asked to comment on a controversial statement made by Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin recently on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's policy in fighting corruption.

Khairy, who is also Abdullah's son-in-law, told the International Herald Tribune (IHT) in an interview last week that the premier has decided after the general election last year that the government would not dig up past corrupt practices.

The Umno Youth leader was quoted as saying: "We decided not to focus on retroactive actions... but rather look forward" when he responded to criticisms that Abdullah was not pushing hard enough against corruption.

Probe should be completed

Puteri Umno deputy chief and Papar MP Rosnah Abd Rashid Shirlin said a balance has to be struck where the government should look into the past and look forward at the same time.

She said pending cases with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) should not be abandoned.

"The (investigation) process should be completed, the government has nothing to hide. If there is evidence, definitely the persons involved should be brought to justice," she stressed.

However, backbencher Bung Moktar Radin threw his support behind Khairy, saying corruption will have a bearing on the economic sector.

"No need to look into the past. We should just guarantee corrupt practices do not happen again," he said.

Parit Sulong MP Syed Hood Syed Edros Alhaj read Khairy's statement differently.

"What Khairy meant was that the government wants more serious preventive measures to tackle corruption and one way to do that is to look forward, not backward," he said.

Syed Hood, a former deputy public prosecutor, said the evidence gathering for a corruption case will continue as long as the Attorney General does not declare the case closed.

"So we should have confidence in the authorities in doing their job and not be prejudiced against them," he added.

On Monday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz also reiterated that no one involved in corruption will escape graft charges.

Nazri said the people should not panic after reading Khairy's statement as the latter did not hold any post in the government.

Opposition's fault

Khairy himself has been rather quiet on the criticisms against him but he did explain to a local online news website Agenda Daily that he did not mean corrupt practices committed in the past would be pardoned.

He explained that he did not say that 'immunity' will be granted to the corrupt and expressed his hope that his comment would not lead to further confusion.

"If you read that ( IHT ) interview, it is clear what I meant was that we should focus our attention and look forward to progress and not be tied up with matters in the past," he said.

Khairy said ACA investigations are tedious and time-consuming. "We know everyone like to see politicians being brought to court for corruption. My stance on fighting corruption in the past or now has never changed - there must be sufficient evidence".

"The IHT article was clear as there was no mention of 'granting immunity' at all. But the opposition parties always like to dig up my mistakes", he said.