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PETALING JAYA: DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng has asked the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to explain why no action was taken against Deputy Defense Minister Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz for recommending his son as member of the board of directors of Pharmaniaga Bhd. .
Lim stated that in Ikmal’s letter addressed to Chief Minister of Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob dated June 5, Ismail acts as the chairman of the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) accepting Ikmal’s recommendation to name his son as director of Pharmaniaga.
Pharmaniaga, Malaysia’s largest pharmaceutical company, is owned by LTAT directly and through its subsidiary Boustead Holdings.
“Ikmal recommending his own son as a member of the Pharmaniaga board of directors is a perfect toxic cocktail of abuse of power, corruption and nepotism that is emerging in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government,” Lim said at a press conference.
“Recommending your own son, which was accepted by Ismail, is a clear violation of one of MACC’s crimes of soliciting or soliciting corruption.
“And the act of soliciting corruption was deemed complete when Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri accepted Ikmal’s recommendation to appoint Ikmal’s son.
“This is an abuse of power, nepotism and corruption all rolled into one: the misuse of public office for private gain.”
Copies of the letter have circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism. Ikmal said last month that he regretted writing the recommendation letter and had written another to Ismail Sabri withdrawing his proposal.
However, Lim said it was “clearly too late” for Ikmal to relinquish responsibility because “he had already committed the act of seeking a benefit on behalf of his son by abusing his position as deputy defense minister.”
