GEORGE TOWN, Sept 30 — Two DAP leaders today demanded the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) prove its chief’s assertion that Penang has the most number of graft cases involving civil servants in the country.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the MACC should be transparent and reveal the number of cases taken to court as well as the number convictions, instead of just telling the public about the number of complaints it has received.

“We demand transparency on the part of MACC as we do not want the image of Penang civil servants and the state government to be tarnished only by account of the number of complaints received since 2019,” he said in a statement.

Chow was responding to MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki’s remarks yesterday that MACC had received a total of 919 complaints against civil servants in Penang for alleged corruption since 2019.

Azam had said the complaints they received related to accepting bribes, abuse of power and making false claims among civil servants in Penang.

Chow said his DAP-led state government is ready to work with the MACC to nip corruption within the civil service.

“Penang welcomes MACC’s investigation of the crime of corruption involving civil servants in the state as this is in line with the CAT principles of good governance; competency, accountability and transparency practised since 2008,” he said.

He stressed that no one is above the law and civil servants found to have accepted bribes, abused their power and made false claims must be investigated and charged as soon as possible.

In a separate statement, veteran DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang also challenged the MACC to provide the full figures of corruption cases not just in Penang but other states so a comparison could be made.

“What are the figures for the other states in Malaysia and what is the time-frame that Azam is talking about?

“How many persons have the MACC charged in court for bribery and abuse of power in Penang and what were the figures for the other states?” the Iskandar Puteri MP asked.

He also asked the MACC to make a distinction between federal and state civil servants.

“Regardless of the state concerned, bribery and power abuse cases must be wiped out if they are ‘worrying’,” he added.

He also suggested that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department summon Azam for an explanation on his remarks.

“The PSC on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department has many uncompleted and new business for which an urgent meeting in the first week of the October Parliament is justified so that it could submit its first report to Dewan Rakyat by October itself,” Lim said.