He contradicted claims made by his predecessor, Abdul Hamid Bador, last year, that a cartel of “dirty cops” working with criminals had sought to depose him as the IGP.

“In my opinion, the issue of a cartel in the police is non-existent, because if it does exist, we would be seeing a certain group of individuals at the forefront (of the force),” Acryl Sani was quoted as saying.

“What’s for sure is that the placement of officers goes through several levels, from the contingent and management department, before coming to me. Then, it’s brought to the police force commission for the final decision,” he said, according to Sinar Harian.

Acryl Sani reiterated that there were stringent mechanisms in place that would make it difficult for a cartel to operate within the force.

In February, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) said it was unable to confirm Hamid’s claims, saying it found no basis to the former IGP’s allegations.

After Hamid claimed that the EAIC chairman Sidek Hassan was not familiar with “the system” in the police force, the commission hit back, saying Hamid had lost his right to comment on the issue.

The EAIC said this was because Hamid had failed to submit any evidence to support his claim nor name officers allegedly involved in the cartel.