PETALING JAYA: The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) says Tan Sri Azam Baki should retract his letter of demand against anti-graft activist Lalitha Kunaratnam, saying the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner should not go after whistleblowers.
C4 said the MACC is an agency tasked with protecting those who expose corruption and Azam should not threaten anyone with legal action.
“Azam’s attempts to silence her smacks of grave intimidation and fear tactics completely unbecoming of a top graft buster,” said C4 in a statement on Friday (Jan 7).
C4 also said the impending lawsuit against Lalitha would only deter any whistleblowers from exposing any wrongdoing in future.
“It is the cruellest irony that it is Azam, of all people, who should be assisting Lalitha to obtain whistleblower protection,” added C4.
Noting the weaknesses in present legislation, C4 said it had sought to amend the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (WPA 2010), as presently, individuals are only allowed to report graft to enforcement agencies and there is a condition that the disclosure cannot break existing laws.
C4 also said on Nov 17 last year, Azam had told the media that he fully supported amendments to WPA 2010 to better protect whistleblowers.
“Where is the support for whistleblowers now? Was this all mere lip service?
“The only right cause of action for Azam now is to immediately withdraw his LOD (letter of demand) and prove to the public that the MACC genuinely...
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