Reveal the names of the 18 high profile individuals under investigation for graft, an opposition member of Parliament told the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration today.

The onus is also on the government and the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to reveal its progress of investigations on the suspects, unless of course the announcement was merely a tactic to gain political mileage for the general election, said PAS Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar.

Yesterday, de facto law minister Rais Yatim announced that the attorney-general's chambers is looking into charging some "high-ranking individuals and decision makers" for corruption, but also added there are other cases which cannot proceed due to lack of evidence.

Tarnished reputation

"As an independent agency, it is important that the ACA is not seen to be under the influence of political masters, especially when involving public interest cases," Mahfuz told a press conference at the PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

"The agency needs no reminder that it has a reputation to keep, especially after the debacle with Entrepreneur Development Minister Nazri Aziz last year," said the PAS politician.

In December last year, Nazri had angrily lashed out at ACA enforcement chief Nordin Ismail for revealing that the minister was being investigated.

Nazri was quoted as saying: "I have to teach him (Nordin) that politicians are not called the political masters and him the government servant for nothing....We, politicians, have been elected by the people and we are not the government's servants."

As a way of repairing this negative public perception of the agency, Mahfuz said the ACA should also reveal the status of its investigation against Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.

Reports against Khir

"Has the case been passed to the Attorney-General's chambers? What happened to the mountain of evidence put forth by (Harakah editor) Ahmad Lutfi Othman?"

Several reports have been lodged against Mohd Khir since 2001. Most of these were made by Ahmad Lutfi, who first accused Mohd Khir of awarding land and government projects worth over RM100 million to a band of cronies in October 2001.

In each of his reports, Lutfi provided the ACA with details of the individuals and companies allegedly involved, and copies of Mohd Khir's bank statements which he had obtained.

In May 2003, DAP state assembly representative for Bandar Klang Teng Chang Khim alleged that Mohd Khir was involved in two "suspicious" allocations of land for plantation purposes.

Mahfuz also took the opportunity to comment on the court's decision to schedule the case of former Perwaja managing director Eric Chia for August.

"This is too late. As a public interest case, the chief justice must give priority to it, especially when Chia is expected to reveal the names of other individuals involved (in the financial mismanagement of Perwaja)."

Give him a chance to name those persons in court, added Mahfuz, so that the courts would not be accused of protecting the executive.

"In the event that Umno and BN cabinet members are implicated (by Chia), the prime minister will have an opportunity to review the list of those he has appointed to the cabinet."

PM's promise

Within a week of completing his 100 days in office as prime minister, Abdullah has displayed his intent to fulfil his anti-corruption promise made last year.

Businessman Chia, 71, was the first VIP to be arrested on Monday following an eight-year ACA investigation; while Land and Cooperative Development Minister Kasitah Gaddam was taken in on Thursday for allegedly misleading the Sabah Land Development Board over a RM24 million share deal in 1996.

These latest developments have inspired interest groups to call on the government to re-open previous graft investigations, which they said for reasons unknown to the public were never proceeded with or closed.

Transparency International said the only way the government can restore public confidence is by looking back and prosecute those who hitherto had escaped prosecution.

"The public perception was that the 'big fish' were left to go free and enjoy the ill-gotten wealth amassed with impunity while only the 'small fries' apprehended and prosecuted," said its deputy president Param Cumaraswamy.