One case that is being closely watched is the late July multi-agency raid on affairs of Abdul Malik Dasthigeer, the founder and chairman of the Malik Group of Companies that is involved in organising concerts by performers from India and the recruitment of foreign workers.
In the raid, officers from several watchdog agencies led by the MACC seized around RM38 million (US$8.1m), 200 kilograms of gold and several luxury sports cars. Mr Abdul Malik is now on bail and has yet to be charged in court.
Separately, the political dimension involving watchdog agencies has also come under the public spotlight.
In recent days, media attention has focussed on the leaks of legal opinions by public prosecutors discouraging the Attorney General’s Chambers from proceeding with the corruption prosecutions against jailed former premier Najib Razak in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
Similar legal opinions from the public prosecutors involving Ahmad Zahid Hamid, who is one of the two deputy premiers of the Anwar government and is currently on trial on charges of money laundering and the abuse of power, have also surfaced.
Leaders from UMNO, which is a junior member in Mr. Anwar’s coalition government, have chimed in on these leaked documents and are demanding that the Attorney General intervene.
“If the memo is genuine, I am confident that the Attorney General’s Chambers will immediately drop the charges,” Mr Ahmad Zahid, who is the current UMNO president, was quoted as saying by the local media.
But lawyers have argued that disagreements among prosecutors in the Attorney General’s Chambers are not uncommon in high-profile cases.
Mr Walter Sandosam, a former member of the MACC oversight panel, noted in a recent commentary to the FMT news website that the final call rests with the Attorney General, “even if his officers have their own take on whether a case being considered for prosecution lacks substance”.
“The layman must understand this. Cease barking at the moon,” noted Mr Sandosam.