No action against Cabinet members facing court charges until judgement, says Anwar
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim says that he cannot take any action against members of his Cabinet who are facing court charges before a decision is made in court.
He also gave his assurance that he would not interfere in court cases involving any of his Cabinet members.
“Action cannot be taken just based on a prosecution and before a (court) judgement. This has even been mentioned by Marang (Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang) in his previous firm statement.
“For instance, there is a lawmaker who is being charged in court today, should the individual also resign from all of their positions?
“Surely the answer is no, so that is my stand as well,” he said in reply to a supplementary question from Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PN-Pasir Mas) who asked whether the appointment of those with court charges into the country’s administration would affect the Malaysia Madani agenda.
The Prime Minister said that he did not want to make any judgement before the due process in court.
Anwar said that since Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s appointment as the Deputy Prime Minister, he had followed all the principles and the policies outlined by the government including rejecting a proposal for an immediate approval of a project without tender from a government-linked company (GLC) under his ministry before this.
Ahmad Zahid, who was also the Rural and Regional Development Minister, was accused of 47 charges of corruption, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering linked to funds of charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi.
“Instead, he (Ahmad Zahid) had replied by asking them to follow the orders of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet they must follow the proper tender process.
“This is the first time I mentioned this and I did not share this with him. I give my assurance that there will be no interference in such a process, perhaps there is some perception as mentioned by Pasir Mas, but I can guarantee that it will not affect the principles and the policies under Malaysia Madani which will be implemented,” he said.