The government has announced that International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz has been cleared of long-standing allegations of corruption.

The attorney general has closed the case on Rafidah as he was satisfied there was insufficient evidence against her, local media reported today, quoting a statement in parliament.

The statement was made yesterday by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, who said he also had been cleared of corruption charges.

"On allegations against me, there was also insufficient evidence and the case is also closed," Nazri was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

Speculation over whether the two ministers would be taken to court as part of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's crackdown on graft in government was effectively quashed earlier by their re-appointment to the cabinet after March elections.

Nazri said 12 others involved in high profile corruption cases had already appeared in court, while another six cases were being assessed by the attorney general.

Among the 12 charged are the former Perwaja Steel Bhd chief executive Eric Chia, who is alleged to have embezzled RM76.4 million, and former lands minister Kasitah Gaddam, who is charged with corruption involving RM40 million.

Doubts on Abdullah's anti-graft war

The others include two former Selangor state executive council members, two former members of parliament and a general manager of state-owned Telekom, Nazri said.

Abdullah, who took over from veteran premier Mahathir Mohamad in October last year, made the fight against graft a central plank of his campaign for the elections, which the ruling coalition won by a landslide.

Many, however, have doubted Abdullah's ability or willingness to take on powerful forces within the government and the faction-ridden ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which had been accused of graft for years.

While the arrests were widely welcomed by opposition parties, economists and western diplomats when they were first announced earlier this year, some expressed doubts over how far the crackdown would go, suggesting that the "big fish" would be untouched. - AFP