C4 said MACC’s credibility remains under question while it is placed under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office, leading to the perception that some of its enforcement operations are politically motivated.

“Thus, we strongly urge the government to pursue MACC independence reforms in order to remove it from the control of the PMO,” it said in a statement.

“Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration has been facing a growing amount of criticism for its inability to address corruption adequately despite paying lip service to it so often – the public trust deficit is ever-expanding,” it said.

In a report last month, Bloomberg alleged that MACC chief Azam Baki told officers in the agency that instructions to investigate former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his sons, as well as former finance minister Daim Zainuddin had come from Anwar himself.

The report also claimed that MACC was told not to investigate share purchases by Anwar’s former political secretary, Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.

Both PMO and MACC denied the claims.

C4 also raised concerns that Bloomberg’s sources, if they were to be discovered, would not receive whistleblower protection under the current laws because such protection is only granted when complaints are made to enforcement bodies.

“But how is one expected to blow the whistle to the very enforcement agency they are blowing the whistle against? Both of these situations, while hypothetical, are very real possibilities and would be significant steps backward in terms of governance,” it said.