MACC chief in the clear over alleged affair

PARLIAMENT | MACC chief Dzulkifli Ahmad now appears to be in the clear over his alleged scandal with a married woman.

Replies in Parliament have indicated that neither the police nor the MACC was pursuing any action against Dzulkifli over the scandal.

Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) had, in a question to Deputy Minister Razali Ibrahim on MACC's apparent inaction against Dzulkifli, highlighted a March 19 written response from the Home Ministry, which stated police had found no statements that pointed towards alleged enticement under Section 498 of the Penal Code.

Razali, who responded to Gobind, said that the MACC did not investigate a series of videos that alleged Dzulkifli had an extramarital affair as it did not involve any elements of corruption.

As such, he said, there were no grounds for the MACC to initiate an investigation into the case.

"I will try to answer on behalf of the MACC. If it was a case of a woman offering sex services in exchange for favours, that you can ask the MACC.

"(But) this case has nothing to do with the MACC," Razali said in response to Gobind, who questioned the commission’s apparent inaction over the videos.

"You (Gobind) are referring to the video and saying that it is him (Dzulkifli)... Do you know (for sure) it is him?," Razali said earlier to Gobind's insistence that MACC takes action against Dzulkifli.

Gobind, in response, said that Dzulkifli's identity was already confirmed in the Dewan Rakyat via the Home Ministry's written reply.

He had earlier asked Razali (photo) to explain the reason why no action has been taken against Dzulkifli, based on allegations made in a series of videos which first emerged on social media sometime last October.

A businessperson subsequently lodged a police report on the videos and urged for an investigation to be conducted.

At the time, Dzulkifli said he would not succumb to "dirty and disgusting" attacks and would focus on combating corruption.

Inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun announced last October that the case was being investigated under Section 498 of the Penal Code for alleged enticement of a married woman.

According to the March 19 written reply from the Home Ministry, police had submitted their investigation papers to the Attorney-General's Chambers on Oct 17 and Oct 30.

"The papers were returned for the police to complete the investigations.

"The papers were resubmitted to the AGC and it was decided that there are no statements to date which pointed to elements under Section 498 of the Penal Code," said the Home Ministry.

On Dec 3, Fuzi said the investigation into Dzulkifli's alleged affair was in the final stages.

However, at the time Fuzi declined to reveal whether police had recorded Dzulkifli's statement in the course of their investigations. -Mkini