PETALING JAYA: The Securities Commission (SC) will be in touch with Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki and others involved for an explanation over the issue of him acquiring shares in two companies in 2015.
The capital market regulator said it would contact them to verify statements made as well as gather any relevant evidence.
“Under Section 25 of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act (SICDA), every securities account opened with a central depository must be in the name of the beneficial owner of the deposited securities or in the name of an authorised nominee,” the SC said in a statement yesterday.
In addition, it pointed out that Section 29A of SICDA stipulates that all dealings in securities shall be effected only by the beneficial owner of the securities or an authorised nominee.
Allegations had surfaced that Azam owned a substantial amount of shares in Gets Global Bhd as well as Excel Force MSC Bhd between 2015 and 2016, when he was the MACC director of investigations.
The matter came to light after Prof Dr Edmund Terence Gomez resigned from MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel late last month in protest over the panel’s inaction with regards to allegations against Azam.
Azam, breaking his silence on the matter on Wednesday, told reporters that there had been no need for him to come forward and explain the issue as he had done nothing wrong.
“The point is that I did not purchase the shares, but it was done by my brother who borrowed my trading account to do so,” he said in response to questions.
Azam said when he was called up by the MACC advisory board, he gave an explanation detailing what had transpired in 2015.
As the chief commissioner, he said he was answerable to the advisory board.
Earlier, the advisory board’s chairman Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang had said that there was no pecuniary interest or conflict of interest on the part of Azam on the issue of acquiring shares of two companies in 2015.
He said this was because Azam did not buy the shares himself as it was done by his younger brother.
Meanwhile, Gomez said yesterday that Azam’s explanation and Abu Zahar’s views raised “more questions than answers”.
He said their statements exposed even more problems within the MACC, while raising extremely distressing new concerns about Azam’s business interests.
“These new issues are related to three core questions – is administration within the MACC so poor?
“Second, can the advisory board act impartially, as well as appropriately, when dealing with serious allegations of impropriety by senior MACC officers?
“Third, has Azam’s response raised new legal and regulatory questions about his business interests?” he said in a statement.
Gomez was appointed to the MACC panel on June 1, 2020, and would have ended his term this May 31.