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Cabinet tomorrow should ask ACA to resolve the two conflicting versions on the status of its investigations into Ling Liong Sik and Hee Leong within a week  or appoint a Special Investigator to take over the investigations from ACA


Media Statement
b
y Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling JayaTuesday): The Cabinet tomorrow should ask the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to resolve the two conflicting versions on the status of its investigations into former MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr.  Ling Liong Sik and Hee Leong within a week or appoint a Special Investigator to take over the investigations from the ACA. 

Last month, the ACA announced a new policy of 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. 

In less than a month, the ACA’s new policy of transparency lies in tatters when it produced two conflicting versions on the status of ACA investigations into my six-year-old report in June 1997 as to  how Ling Hee Leong, son of Liong Sik, could at the age of 27 embark on corporate acquisitions exceeding RM1.2 billion in a matter of months and whether there had been improper use and influence of his father’s political and Ministerial position.  

In my first visit to ACA in Putrajaya last Wednesday, I was informed by the Deputy Director of Investigations, Ahmad bin Mandus that ACA investigations into my  first six-year report  against Liong Sik and Hee Leong had been completed, that no offence was disclosed and the case was closed although my second report in June last year arising from Soh Chee Wen's Malaysiakini interview was still under investigation. 

However, ACA Director of Investigations Datuk Nordin Ismail gave a conflicting version which was reported in the Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia on Thursday that investigations into my 1997 report on Liong Sik and Hee Leong had been re-opened after my second report consequent on Soh Chee Wen's interview.

Only one of these two versions could be right, as they conflict one another – whether ACA investigations into my six-year report in June 1997 have been closed or are still open!  

It is most shocking that despite my re-visit to ACA in Putrajaya yesterday, the ACA was unable to  end and resolve the two conflicting versions on the status of its investigations on my six-year report on Liong Sik and Hee Leong, which had not only torn the ACA’s policy of new transparency into shreds but also plunged public confidence on its  effectiveness, efficiency, independence and professionalism to a new low. 

The Cabinet should ask the ACA Director-General to resolve the two conflicting versions of the status of its investigations into the six-year report on  Liong Sik and Hee Leong within a week, failing which, the Cabinet should appoint a Special Investigator to take over all the ACA investigations in connection with Liong Sik, Hee Leong and the MCA, as clearly the ACA has forfeited all public trust and confidence in its handling of these cases.
 

(5/8/2003)


* Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman