Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharum has again called for the outcome of investigations into the “Freedom for Sale” allegations that he received RM5 million to release three men held under the Emergency Ordinance should be made public.

This is a most extraordinary situation as almost two months have passed since Johari first made a similar call.

The ACA director-general Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan had said previously when he was acting head of ACA that investigations on the graft allegations against Johari had been completed by the ACA shortly after the deputy minister was questioned by ACA officials on March 19 and that the investigation papers were in the hands of the prosecution division.

Why is there a three-month procrastination on Johari’s investigations, when ACA had completed their work as far back as March?

Exactly four years ago in June 2003, ACA had announced a new three-point policy on transparency to be more responsive towards public demand for information about its investigations, viz:

• The ACA will keep all complainants informed on the status of investigations into their reports if they want it.
• Heads of government departments will be informed of the decision of the Attorney-General on investigations involving their subordinates.
• The ACA will issue statements about cases that are still under investigation if it feels necessary, including those already decided by the Attorney-General.

The past four years have proven that this new 3-point policy of ACA to address public concern for more transparency are just empty talk and nothing more!

In the Johari Baharum case, why is the ACA and the AG’s Chambers loth to make public the outcome of the investigations when the subject of the investigations has repeatedly called for a public accounting?

As Parliament will be reconvening next week, a detailed White Paper on ACA investigations on the RM5 million graft allegations against Johari Baharum for releasing three men under Emergency Ordinance should be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat next Monday.

In this connection, the outcome of police investigations into the serious corruption allegations made against the then ACA director-general Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor by former Sabah ACA director and whistleblower Mohamad Ramli Abdul Manan in June last year should also be made public.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan had said in April that the police had completed investigations into the corruption allegations against Zulkipli after taking statements from 30 persons and that the investigations papers had been submitted to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail should explain why he is sitting on these investigation papers whether on Johari or Zulkipli for months on end without any action being taken.

Gani should include the outcome of investigations into the corruption allegations against Zulkipli in a White Paper on investigations on allegations against high public officials to dispel growing suspicion that the Attorney-General’s Chambers has become a “black hole” where serious allegations of corruption against high public officials disappear altogether from public view.