KUCHING, May 26: The Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS) is urging the newly-minted Malaysian Anti Corruption Committee (MACC) Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull to reopen the file of Sarawak Governor Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud if it has already been closed.
“We wish to remind Shukri that MoCS had lodged a report against the former Sarawak chief minister and current governor in March, 2011. Following that, then MACC chief (Tan Sri) Abu Kassim (Mohamed) announced that Taib was under investigation.
“It has been more than seven years and there has been no update on the Taib file,” MoCS leader Francis Paul Siah said in a statement today.
As MACC is now on a massive anti-corruption drive, the agency must also move fast against Taib who is known to be still wielding immense power in Sarawak today, he said.
“It is a known fact that Taib is still giving instructions to Sarawak Chief Minister (Datuk Patinggi) Abang Johari (Tun) Openg from the Astana. One recent example is the fielding of his youngest daughter, (Datuk) Hanifah Taib, as the BN candidate for Mukah during GE14 against the wishes of the Melanau community in the constituency.
“Taib gets whatever he wants in Sarawak, even up to this day. Make no mistake about it. He could even ‘transform’ his Syrian-born wife, (Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi) Raghad Kurdi (Taib), into a Melanau, thus allowing her to apply and own millions of hectares of plantation land because of her new Bumiputra status,” said Siah.
Siah also said the recent action taken by the Swiss-based NGO Bruno Manser Fund against Sakto Corporation, a Canada-based company headed by Jamilah Taib-Murray, the governor’s eldest daughter for alleged money laundering should provide sufficient ground for MACC to act against Taib and members of his family.
“In fact, it is also time for the MACC and police to raid the many palatial homes of Taib in Kuching and abroad, just as they had done so with those of many VVIPs, including (former Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib Razak and former Sabah Chief Minister (Tan Sri) Musa Aman,” he said.
The MoCS leader also hoped that the new MACC chief will send a director with “bite” to head its Sarawak department.
Siah expressed his disappointment that the last time he led a MoCS delegation to the MACC office in Kuching, the then director only sent one of his officers to meet them.
“I don’t know why he was so afraid to discuss a matter of such grave importance concerning the chief minister with us. We need a new MACC boss in Sarawak, one able and prepared to tackle the bull by its horn
s,” he said.
He also hoped to meet Shukri soon to get an update from the latter on the Taib file. — DayakDaily
