ACA Zulkipli must establish his integrity or be removed immediately

ACA Zulkipli must establish his integrity or be removed immediately
by Lim Kit Siang

The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general, Datuk Zulkipli Mat Noor should appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity to clear all doubts that he is qualified to continue to helm the anti-corruption agency.

I will propose at today’s meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee that Zulkipli be summoned to appear at an emergency meeting to respond to various serious allegations which had been made against him, ranging from corruption to sexual crimes, which must not remain unrebutted so as to salvage the credibility, legitimacy and authority of the ACA.

If Zulkipli is not prepared to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee to establish his integrity in an emergency meeting, he must be removed as the ACA head. The Cabinet should put this item on the top of its agenda at its meeting tomorrow.

Malaysiakini yesterday reported these allegations which were filed last year by former ACA officer Mohamad Ramli Manan to the then inspector-general of police Mohd Bakri Omar.

In the July 4, 2006 report, Ramli named the ACA chief - who is a former top cop - and referred to him as ‘B1′.

“As you are aware, B1 was a member of your police force and his last appointment there was as Sarawak chief police officer. It has come to the knowledge of the ACA that B1 was a very corrupt senior police officer and had amassed substantial property and assets through corrupt practices,” he told Mohd Bakri in his report.

Ramli claimed that in 1997 - when Zulkipli was Johor police chief - the ACA had then learnt that he was “in possession of properties disproportionate to his known source of income” and had indulged in “immoral and criminal” activities.

Apart from this, Ramli also disclosed that the police had allegedly investigated Zulkipli in connection with a sexual crime following a report filed by a housewife with the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur.

Following this report, he said the housewife had also filed additional reports with the police in Negri Sembilan’s Mambau and Kuala Lumpur’s Segambut as well as Dang Wangi for alleged assault and use of criminal force.

“There were also evidence of interference by B1 in the course of the police investigation wherein witnesses were threatened not to cooperate,” said Ramli.

Ramli also claimed that the ACA director-general owned several business interests and properties, including six houses in Pagoh, Johor.

He said the ACA learnt that the police had investigated Zulkipli for allegedly misusing government vehicles to carry out regular checks on these properties and business interests.

According to the report, these allegations were well-known in the police circle and several police officers had also offered evidence of B1’s corrupt activities to the Police Royal Commission two years ago.

“As a senior ACA officer, I have to categorically state that B1’s continued presence in the civil service, notably in ACA, whose main duty is to eradicate corruption, is a security threat to the country,” the report added.

Ramli expressed hope that the police would launch a thorough investigation into the allegations.

In the final paragraph of his report, the former ACA officer stated that it was on record that he had informed the relevant authorities, including the organisation he had worked for, regarding these allegations since 2003. However, these were ignored.

“I have to state that this is my last act of national duty since I am going into compulsory retirement. The ACA being a very important public institution should be supported by all and sundry and see that it discharges its national duty in the best interest of the public and country,” said Ramli, who retired soon after he filed the report.

The ‘first information report’ which was also sent to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the attorney-general, the auditor-general and director-general of the civil service, was made public yesterday by the chairperson of Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption (Gerak) Ezam Mohd Nor at a press conference yesterday.