| "The Selangor UMNO deputy chief and Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Datuk Abu Hassan Omar, said yesterday that Muhammad had told him over the telephone that the money was meant for “shopping”.
"However, a spokesman of the Mentri Besar’s office said that Muhammad did not mention in his telephone conversation with Abu Hassan that the money belonged to him." |
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has directed the Selangor Mentri Besar, Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib to submit a report on the incident in which he is alleged to have failed to declare A$1.2 million (RM2.4 million) in cash at the Brisbane airport on Sunday.
This is the right and proper step for the Prime Minister to take for Muhammad Taib’s RM2.4 million cash incident in Brisbane, which created the notorious record for the first time in the history of the nation where a State Mentri Besar is arrested and charged in court in a foreign country.
This incident, in fact, has become a classic test case of the seriousness of Mahathir’s declaration of war against money politics and corruption in high political places in his presidential address at the UMNO General Assembly last October.
From the standpoint of promoting a culture of high integrity in the political leadership, the offence for which Muhammad Taib has been charged in the Brisbane magistrate’s court - contravention of the Australian Financial Transactions Reports Act in leaving the country with more than A$5,000 without making a declaration - is secondary and subsidiary to the more important issue as to why the Selangor Mentri Besar should have such vast sums of money in mixed currency, Singapore and New Zealand dollars and Malaysian ringgit, as amounting to RM2.4 million on his person when he is on a “private holiday” overseas.
The questions as to the ownership and purpose of the RM2.4 million cash found by the Australian Federal Police on the person of Muhammad Taib at the Brisbane airport on Sunday deepen into greater mystery with the conflicting statements about the ownership and purpose of the cash - as to whether they were mere “shopping money” for Muhammad or otherwise!
The Selangor UMNO deputy chief and Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Datuk Abu Hassan Omar, said yesterday that Muhammad had told him over the telephone that the money was meant for “shopping”.
However, a spokesman of the Mentri Besar’s office said that Muhammad did not mention in his telephone conversation with Abu Hassan that the money belonged to him.
Who is telling the truth - the Minister for Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs or the anonymous spokesman in the Selangor Mentri Besar’s Office?
Be that as it may, the conflicting versions as to the ownership and purpose of the RM 2.4 million cash found on Muhammad’s person at the Brisbane airport has only highlighted the imperative need for Muhammed to give a full and satisfactory accounting, not only to the Prime Minister, but to the entire Malaysian nation as to the origin and purpose of the RM2.4 million cash.
As the issue of personal integrity has been raised by the incident, the Muhammad should publicly declare his assets when he first became Selangor Mentri Besar 10 years ago in 1986 and his current assets.
Mahathir has said that before a person is appointed or re-appointed Barisan Nasional Mentri Besar, he has to declare his assets to him as Prime Minister and Mahathir has to date kept such declaration of assets private and confidential, known only to himself.
This RM2.4 million Brisbane cash episode has however raised serious questions both about political integrity and the seriousness of the government in demanding high standards of probity among the top political leadership, and for this reason, Muhammad should be required to make public his assets when he first became Selangor Mentri Besar in 1986 and his assets which he had declared to the Prime Minister when he was re-appointed Selangor Mentri Besar after the April 1995 general elections.
This is all the more pertinent because the Muhammad had not refuted or denied widespread reports that he had paid RM15 million just for alimony money - raising the further question as to how he could have such millions of ringgit based on his allowances as Mentri Besar.
In view of the Brisbane episode, both the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Attorney-General’s Chambers should introduce more severe amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, which the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently said was in the works.
The recent proposal by the first director-general of the Anti-Corruption Agency and retired Supreme Court Judge, Tan Sri Harun Hashim that the law should be amended to to make illicit enrichment an offence.
Harun suggested that politicians holding public office and government officers who are in possession of pecuniary resources or property which is not proportionate to their known sources of income and for which they cannot satisfactorily account should be guilty of an offence which is punishable with imprisonment not exceeding 20 years without the option of a fine and such properties be forfeited. Harun said "possession" should include possession by spouses, children, siblings and even front companies.
I hope that Harun’s proposal would be incorporated into the new amendments to anti-corruption law in order to give teeth to the campaign against corruption, particularly those in high public and political places and that such amendments would be given the highest priority and tabled in the March meeting of Parliament.
(27/12/96)