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Comment by R. Nadeswaran

Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong. Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734)

ON Wednesday, the deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) Datuk Abu Kassim Ismail went to great lengths to re-emphasise, re-state and reiterate that the agency is independent and takes instructions from no one.

Answering questions from the floor at the launch of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, the audience was convinced and even managed a subdued applause when Abu Kassim made his point.

Yesterday, all of them would have changed their minds after reading what the Attorney General (AG) said in relation to the video clip of a conversation between lawyer V. K. Lingam and a senior judge. Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying that “he had directed the ACA to record a statement from the lawyer to verify the authenticity of the video clip.”

“We want to know what he has to say about the video clip before proceeding further,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

I don’t want to speculate if the AG is usurping the powers of the three-man committee which has been set up to establish the authenticity of the tape, but I will certainly take umbrage that the AG is interfering and directing the ACA on how it should investigate.

To add insult to injury, the AG is quoted as saying that “he met with the ACA deputy director-general yesterday at his office and had directed the agency on how to handle the matter.”

“I want them to get in touch with the lawyer when he reaches home and to record his statement,” he was also quoted as saying.

These kinds of instructions would be akin to teaching a duck how to swim, but ironically, it has dealt a severe blow to the ACA’s credibility.

Didn’t Abu Kassim tell the audience which included former TI president Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim and the current president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam that “the ACA takes instructions from no one”?

So, who’s telling us what? On one hand we are told that the ACA is independent, while on the other, we are told that they have been directed?

Since when did the ACA report to the AG’s Chambers? Since when did Abdul Gani become the de facto chief director-general of the ACA, and the vital question is: Is the AG empowered to direct the ACA?

The issue of independence came to light after a light-hearted exchange on the public perception of the ACA in which Abu Kassim had blamed the media for not giving fair coverage to the number of successful cases which ACA had brought to court.

I took up cudgels for the media by stating that we cannot source stories of do-gooders and government servants who report bribe-givers because there is hardly any communication by the agency to the media.

The media, I said, wants to be a friend of the ACA and wants to help in the fight against corruption. “The problem,” I countered, “is that the government has the perception that Nadeswaran and the media is the enemy who is going to create problems. I want to be friends with anyone who fights corruption.”

Abu Kassim was receptive and agreed that communication has been a problem and steps are being taken to improve. It was here that he declared ACA’s independence.

The ACA, he said, is independent and has taken action against top government offi cials, including ministers and mentris besar.

Now, I am wondering if someone told me a lie or if Abdul Gani had inadvertently let the cat out of the bag! Can one of you please clarify by communicating the truth?

Nadeswaran’s campaign for transparency and accountability got a sudden boost from the current chief of the ACA. But the AG’s stand has defl ated his new-found confidence in the ACA and has caused confusion. Comments: citizen-nades@thesundaily.com.

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