KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) is not investigating 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low said today.

In a parliamentary written answer to Sim Tze Tzin (PKR-Bayan Baru), Low said that it is the police that are investigating 1MDB.

Sim had earlier asked if MACC had called up Low Taek Jho and Riza Aziz in their 1MDB probe.

“MACC is not investigating 1MDB but the investigation is carried by the police,” Low said.

Sim said that he was "shocked" by the parliamentary answer from Low.

"All this while, I thought MACC was investigating 1MDB? If they were not investigating 1MDB, what were they were investigating?" he asked.

He also said that the MACC should clarify if they had carried any investigations into 1MDB to begin with.

The state owned investment firm has come under public scrutiny after accruing a RM42 billion debt within six years after its inception.

1MDB however has since offset a large share of the debt by selling some assets.

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia...b-minister-says

sekali all students are barred from covering 1MDB for their thesis

PETALING JAYA: The cut in the allocation for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Budget 2017 may create the perception that the government isn’t serious about fighting corruption, says a political analyst.

The allocation for MACC is RM216 million. Last year it was RM251 million and in 2015 it was RM294 million.

Speaking to FMT, Awang Azman Pawi of Universiti Malaya said large amounts of money would be needed if the government were serious about fighting corruption, especially high-end corruption.

“We know that we need high-end technology like they have in Hong Kong if we’re going to fight corruption, and we also need training and outside expertise if we’re going to strengthen the MACC,” he said.

“How are you going to fight advanced forms of corruption like transnational corruption and money laundering if you decrease the allocation?”

With the cut, he said, an already critical public was likely to get the impression that the government was being two-faced when it claimed that it was serious about fighting corruption.

Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen agreed, saying the cut made it look as though MACC was being punished rather than rewarded for its recent successes, such as the arrests made in connection with the Sabah water scandal.

“If you cut the budget of an agency that performs, you are sending a message to the public that you don’t approve of its work,” he said.

This apparent inconsistency was one of the reasons opposition MPs walked out of Parliament during Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Budget 2017 speech, according to Kelana Jaya MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

She said Najib did not even bother to explain whether his administration had taken steps to plug the leakage of public funds or to fight corruption.

“The budget itself was not clearly explained,” she said. “For example, why is money prioritised a certain way? Why are funds taken away from key institutions such as the MACC?”

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/...bad-impression/