Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-Malaysia) president Muhammad Mohan said he was taken “by surprise” after the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted the former federal territories minister a discharge not amounting to acquittal.
“TI-Malaysia is however deeply concerned about the public perception and how this will affect Malaysia’s future rating in the Corruption Perception Index.
“In 2019 Malaysia made a dramatic recovery in the CPI score after investigating high profile cases and those involved were charged,” he said in a statement.
Muhammad, however, urged everyone to remain calm and allow the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) space to dig deeper into the case before submitting to the attorney-general.
“We must follow the rule of law.”
Earlier today, High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali granted the order when the prosecution told the court that it did not wish to proceed with the case against Tengku Adnan due to some “new developments”.
The charge against Tengku Adnan, popularly known as Ku Nan, was that he allegedly receiving RM1 million from businessman Tan Eng Boon to approve an application by Nucleus Properties Sdn Bhd (now known as Paragon City Development Sdn Bhd) to increase the industrial plot ratio of a piece of land on Jalan Semarak.
Previously, the High Court had fined Tan RM1.5 million after he pleaded guilty to a charge of abetting Ku Nan in receiving a RM1 million bribe.
Meanwhile, the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Centre), echoed a similar sentiment.
They said Malaysia’s marked improvement in last year’s CPI “will suffer greatly if our anti-corruption efforts continue to regress”.
“This is especially if the public does not receive clear answers for why a discharge not amounting to an acquittal was sought in this corruption charge against Tengku Adnan,” it said.
C4 Centre added that there should be no place for opaqueness or vague statements that cast doubt on the AGC’s pursuit of the corruption charge.
The Malaysian public, they said, demanded answers, noting that several high profile cases had fizzled out, including ones that involved former prime minister Najib Razak’s stepson, Riza Aziz, being granted a similar discharge and former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman’s abrupt acquittal of 46 corruption charges.
“This must not be allowed to happen again.”