THE government will not protect anyone involved in corruption and all, be it from the government or the Opposition, will face action, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (BN-Bera).
The government was serious about taking action against corruption, he said when commenting on the country’s decline in the Transparency International 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) rankings.
Ismail Sabri said the decline was not just based on corruption cases but also human rights issues as well as the need to reform institutions and amend relevant laws such as political funding.
“In terms of actions taken, many cases are still ongoing in the courts. It does not matter if they are from the government or the Opposition.
“The government does not protect anyone,” he said when replying to a supplementary question by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PKR-Port Dickson) in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Anwar had asked Ismail Sabri to state the government’s stance on the downgrading of Malaysia’s position in the CPI.
Malaysia was placed 62nd out of 180 countries, a drop of five places from last year.
Anwar had also asked why there was no political determination to handle these issues such as the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal and those revealed during the Pandora Papers leak.
He said the perception of corruption would ruin the country’s image.
Ismail Sabri replied that the courts would decide if an individual was guilty or otherwise.
“You can’t say the government is protecting certain individuals or taking action only against certain individuals.
“We don’t know if there was selective prosecution before this but today there is no such thing. This is the government’s promise,” he said.
Several Umno leaders are currently facing graft charges in court, including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for the 1MDB case and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for corruption charges involving his charity foundation Yayasan Akalbudi.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng is also facing corruption charges involving the proposed construction of an undersea tunnel and paired roads project in Penang.