Oleh YS Tong

A former Umno division leader today lodged a report with the Anti-Corruption Agency against Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo who had been implicated in several graft allegations in the past year.

Dr Mohd Yusuf Abd Wahab, who was an Umno Tanjong Karang committee member until late 1998, said he wanted to know if any progress had been made on investigation into the case.

The first report was lodged by media activist Ahmad Lutfi Othman (or Lutfi as he is called) a year ago.

Now the PAS Tanjong Karang information chief, Mohd Yusuf said he may have to lodge another report a year from now if the case is still not resolved.

“The public has yet to see or hear anything from the ACA. Unlike in Kelantan, when there were some land graft charges there [a few months ago], the ACA opened the files in three days, started going after every suspect, and even made statements,” he said.

He said he was merely responding to the government’s call for Malaysians to fulfill their duty as citizens by informing the authorities about any suspected corrupt practices.

Economic background

“The menteri besar used to come to my place often. I know his economic background. He could not have acquired so many properties within months,” he said, referring to an allegation that Mohd Khir had paid up a RM200,000 bank loan and bought plots of land in the first eight months of his tenure.

Mohd Khir was appointed in August 2000 after his predecessor Abu Hassan Omar resigned amid rumours sparked off by a poison-pen letter that he sired an illegitimate child with his sister-in-law.

Accompanying Mohd Yusuf this morning at the ACA headquarters in Putrajaya were Lutfi and Keadilan Paya Besar division chief Wan Jusoh Wan Kolok.

Lutfi was the first to lodge a report against Mohd Khir last October, alleging that the state chief had abused his powers to award land and government projects worth over RM100 million to a few cronies.

He later lodged at least three similar reports to the ACA with details of the individuals and companies involved, and copies of Mohd Khir’s bank statements which he had obtained.

Lutfi was subsequently arrested for publishing without a permit after he ran an extensive coverage of Mohd Khir’s graft allegations in a tabloid he produced last year. About 20,000 copies of the tabloid were confiscated.

The activist and writer said he was “disappointed but not surprised” with the way the ACA had handled his reports.

No response

“I have tried to meet the investigating officers to see what was taking them so long in their investigation. If necessary, I can give them more details. But they have not responded to my request for a meeting,” he said.

“What is more disappointing is that they only sent a junior officer who had not followed the case to receive our report this morning. We were only told that our previous reports are still under investigation,” he added.

He said it was clear that the ACA was acting within political constraints and could not act efficiently on all cases since it is answerable directly to the Prime Minister’s Department.

Mohd Khir has said the accusations against him were unfounded. He insisted early this year that he had no personal interest in all the projects since they were approved by the state executive council according to procedure.

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Terbitan : 16 Okt 2002

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